Pieces
by neffititi
Summary: Vampire-verse Valkubus. Bo is a Vampire and Tamsin is a Huntress. They went on a road trip together looking for something, and they just kept getting themselves in trouble. Rated M for the obvious reasons.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I am hitting some major writer's block on my other stories. I have no choice but to halt them for now and start a new Valkubus story.**

 **I've been wanting to write a Vampire fic for Valkubus for some time now, but I just couldn't figure out the right tone and right story arc until now. I think it will be like Tomb Raider + Diablo II + maybe a little bit True Blood (since it's a Vampire-verse fic)**

 **A little background first. In this** **fic, Bo is a Vampire, and Tamsin is a Huntress. Huntresses are the only kind that can actually kill the Vampires, and they used to hunt down Vampires, but they are in a bit of a new era where the feud between the two kind has reduced a lot. The story is mainly that they are going on a mission together in search for the truth about themselves and the world. I will introduce more about the Vampires, Huntresses, and the other creatures in this story slowly.**

 **I don't know if I'd include more LG characters, maybe Kenzi or Acacia at most but that's probably about it. There will be quite a few OCs.**

 **The title "Pieces" comes from the song "Pieces" (from Red). For some reason I feel that it really fits Valkubus.**

 **Rated M mostly for hot Vampire/Huntress sex and language.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own LG and I do not profit from it. I wish I did.**

* * *

 _"You call my name, and I come to you in pieces, so you can make me whole."_

Chapter 1

The sun slowly slipped down behind the horizon. Its last breath painted the edge of the sky blood red. Outside a small town at the foot of the rolling mountains, the entire world weeped along with the cold breeze in the tall grass.

On a dirt road in the middle of the grassfield, two young men were running breathlessly towards the town. Puffs of white air left their mouths so rapidly like wasn't just air but the essence of their life leaving their bodies.

One of them, the taller one, tried to say something, but he was panting too hard and he choked. He swallowed hard and wiped his mouth with his sleeve, before he turned back to take a look behind him.

There was nothing but the last rays of the setting sun, the empty grassland and the darkness that was about to shroud the world slowly.

"Hey..." he murmured as he nudged the other guy. "W-where did Ellia go?"

The other guy took a quick look and shook his head. He coughed loudly as he kept shaking his head. Instead of answering his friend's question, he grabbed his arm and forced him to run faster.

"I think we should go back and-" the taller guy suggested hesitantly. He stopped abruptly for he suddenly tripped and slammed his right knee into a rock under him.

He cried out in pain, but instead of taking a rest, he struggled to move forward with his friend.

Stumbling and limping, they ran towards the gateway of the town, towards where the lights were, towards the shelter where all the livings were.

A few vague, low grunts came from behind them, and the taller guy cringed. He wanted to take a look but was too afraid to do so.

"Did you...did you hear that?" He asked his friend, his voice shaking hard.

"Just keep moving!" The other guy told him firmly.

"I...I think I heard something behind us," the taller guy explained as fear filled his voice. "Is that..."

His friend just dragged his arm again urging him to move faster instead of talking.

The taller guy ran as fast as he could in fear, but his sore legs and that cramp in his right abdomen slowed him down.

As he fell further behind, he started to panic, and then, he remembered that he had brought something with him. He reached into his jacket and took out a metal object.

It was a big, silverplated cross, and he held it so tightly like he was drowning in the rapids and this was the only straw that he could hold onto.

He wanted to show his friend the cross to give him a little hope and comfort, but when he raised his head, he saw no one in front of him but the emptiness of the wild.

He looked around and couldn't find his friend anywhere. It was just himself alone in the middle of the tall grass, still a mile away from the town. And more importantly, the night was inevitably falling upon him.

He thought he saw some shadows moving in the grass, with low grunts and vague slobbering sounds. He swallowed hard and clasped his fingers around the cross as he kept running for his life.

A few low purrs came from behind him. They sounded like someone was slowly forcing an old, wooden door with tight, rusty hinges to open. They seemed to be right behind him, and he was suddenly overwhelmed by fear.

His legs gave out immediately. He wobbled and stumbled, and then he tripped and fell. He dared not to stop, though, as he clenched his teeth and scrambled his way towards the town.

Something behind him pounced at him and grabbed his ankle, almost crushing his shin. He screamed and struggled frantically. Immediately after he freed himself, his other ankle was grabbed and he was dragged backwards forcefully.

He was dragged backwards facing down. He dug his fingers into the mud and forced himself to roll facing up, before he used every bit of his strength to kick the attacker in the face.

He heard an angry growl as the thing let go of him momentarily.

He had finally caught a glimpse of that thing under the moonlight. It was a creature that looked like a wicked animal-human hybrid with four deformed limbs. Its skin was cracked and charred. Its eyes were red like blood, but cold like snake. The creature, it reminded him a dead he had once seen, which had been run over by a car and left on the side of the road for days, highly decomposed with stench.

As the creature, together with three others, closed in on him slowly and growled, he saw their fangs in those open mouths, in which three rows of sawtooth-like fangs grew.

The one in the middle, which assumed to be the alpha, tilted its head at him and made that unpleasant purr again. Before the guy could react, it pounced at him again.

A scream of fear burst out from the young man as he fled on his hands and knees.

He had barely gotten ten feet away, when he heard a slurping sound right above his head. Then, he felt a wet lick on the top of his hair.

Having completely paralyzed by fear, he collapsed and trembled. Tears burst out as he cried for help. He waved his cross in front of him like crazy with his shaking hand.

The group of creatures fell back a little cautiously as they stared at the cross while letting out some low, warning growls at him.

"That's right! Go away! Go away you ugly monsters!" The man yelled as he waved the cross in excitement.

The creatures hiss at him. Then alpha bared its teeth and launched itself at him. It pinned him down to the ground and stared at him viciously, its saliva drooled down from its mouth and into the guy's face.

The others, feeling encouraged, approached him again. One of them slapped his cross away violently.

The young man closed his eyes in despair, thinking that he would be torn into pieces and then eaten right now. However, before those teeth sunk into his flesh, a loud bay came from afar. It sounded like nothing but a screech of anguish.

All the creatures stopped attacking him immediately. They all turned to the alpha as if they were seeking advice from the others.

The alpha raised its head and growled. Right after that, a second bay came. This time it sounded like it was nearby.

The alpha let go of him and looked into the darkness vigilantly. He took the chance and tried to escape, but he couldn't move at all. No matter how hard he had tried, his spasming legs or arms just wouldn't listen to him. They felt like they were no longer his.

Biting out a groan, he inched away from the group of creatures, but froze immediately when a third bay came right behind him. The high pitch sound clawed his eardrums, and he felt that suddenly the air pressure around him had changed. It hammered into his chest, and he suddenly couldn't breathe.

He turned his head, and there he saw a huge shadow standing. It had the shape of a dog as big as the size of a pickup truck.

Thinking that it was yet another flesh eating monster that was coming for him, he closed his eyes in tears and decided to give up.

He heard a series of incoherent growls and whines around him. Then, it was just that dead silence.

It took him forever to realize that he was still alive in one piece. He eventually decided to open his eyes a little to take a peek.

He was shocked to find that the creatures were all gone. That shadow dog was gone too. There was nothing around him but the night wind, the soughing woods and the whispering grassland.

Gasping incoherently, he scrambled to stand up, but as something moved in the tall grass right next to him, he screamed and fell into the mud again.

Then, he realized that it was not a monster, but a small dog with long, tousled black hair and bright amber eyes. He couldn't recognized the breed, though.

He and the dog stared at each other for a few seconds, and then a tall, blonde woman walked out from the darkness. She almost gave him a heart attack.

The woman looked at him with a slight frown. Her light blue-green eyes were almost emotionless. When she noticed that he was shaking hard and he could barely hold himself together, she scoffed,"what kind of moron are you to stay outside the town after sundown?"

The guy swallowed hard at that nonchalant voice. After staring at her for a long time, he finally answered, "we were...our car broke down a few...a few miles back there and-"

"We?" The blonde woman raised her eyebrows.

"They are...my friends are...my friends were..." the guy muttered as he tried to put his mind together to described what had happened. The only thing he could put into words was that there had been five of them in that car and the car had broken down. They decided to go to the town on foot, and while they were on the way, the others disappeared quietly.

He started to tremble again as he remembered those monsters' disgusting faces. "They…my friends..." he murmured, raising his arm weakly to point to where he had come from.

The woman rolled her eyes. "Forget about your friends. They are gone. You better get your sorry ass back to town before more of those fuckers come out and eat you too."

The guy nodded like crazy. He clumsily stood up, almost bumping into her and knocked her down.

He wiped the sweat off his face, and then he looked for his cross. He groaned when he found it twisted and bent in the grass.

"Yeah, I'd just throw that shit away if I were you," the blonde said. "They aren't afraid of crosses."

"W-what?" The guy murmured in surprised as he looked at the cross. "They aren't? But...but...everybody says that…."

"Whoever told you that those damn things are afraid of holy objects-" the woman aired quoted "holy objects", "-had no idea what they were talking about, or maybe they just wanted you dead."

 _But, they did look like they were afraid of it, at least for a short while._ The man thought, but wasn't brave enough to argue with the woman since she looked fierce.

The woman took the cross away from him. Though, before she tossed it away, she noticed a vague scent coming from inside of it.

With a little frown she ripped the cross open with her bare hands. It turned out that it was hollow inside and there was a handful of dehydrated flower buds in it.

"No wonder they came at you last..." she murmured as she picked up one bud and looked at it carefully.

"W-what are those?" The guy asked. He had no idea that his cross was hollow inside, let alone that it had the flowers in it. "Are they...those monsters, they are afraid of these flowers?"

The woman didn't answer him. She examined the cross again, before she asked, "where did you get this cross, hmmm?"

"It's a family heirloom..." the man replied. Then, he cleared his throat and quickly corrected himself, "I mean...I think my grandfather bought it at a garage sale and…."

Nervously staring at the flowers, he asked again, "the monsters are afraid of these flowers?"

"Yeah, you wish," the woman snorted and poured all the flower buds into her hand. She crushed them gently with her fingers. The dried petals crumbled and scattered in the wind. She watched the last petal disappeared, before she continued, "these are just wild roses, and no, they aren't afraid of wild roses at all. What made them hesitate was the smell because the flowers must have…."

She trailed off as she looked into the night sky. Then, she turned to the guy and frowned. "Seriously, get lost, like right now."

The guy nodded absentmindedly. What had happened had finally sunk in, and he somehow figured that the disappearance of those nasty attackers had everything to do with this blonde woman in front of him.

"It was...it was you who saved me, right?" He asked hesitantly.

The woman rolled her eyes, and then shrugged lazily. "So?"

"Well, then could you...I mean, if you don't mind, do you want to go, like go into the town with me?" The man asked, practically begging now.

The blonde huffed out a mocking laugh. "No," she said firmly. "I'm not your bodyguard, and I have no interest to be one."

"But...hey..." the guy muttered.

The woman had finally lost her patience. She took a step forward and looked into his eyes. "Do you know why I saved you from those ugly fuckers?"

The guy shook his head and took a step back. Somehow, all of a sudden, he felt an invisible force in the air pushing against him and making him choke.

"Because..." the woman leaned in and breathed, "I don't like to share my _dinner_ with them."

The man's eyes shot wide open. Then he fell back and let out a loud cry of fear. He fled while screaming and didn't look back at her once.

The woman chuckled and shook her head. She casually ran her fingers through her long locks while looking at the small town in distance.

She could see the guards at the closed gateway checking everyone entering the gate. She could heard some screams and cries of pain from afar. It might be those who had been caught and eaten by those nasty creatures. Or, it might be those who had been injured so badly that the people inside the town decided to kill them before they would turn into the monsters.

The lights in the town looked so fragile, as if the darkness was chipping away the little town.

She wondered how long it would take before it lost too many people to the monsters to recover. She wondered how long it would take before it would crumble and fall, just like many other cities and towns she had seen on her journey.

Behind her, in the mountains, across the roaring river, in the caves, among the tall grass and the woods, there were hundreds of those nasty creatures drooling over warm human flesh. Sooner or later, they would conquer this small town.

The blonde sighed as she pressed her hand on the hilt of her hunting knife. She looked down at the dog, who now was resting beside her foot. "While you are finishing up eating your dinner, I'm gonna go get a drink," she announced.

The dog rolled his eyes at her and let out a low grunt, which sounded surprisingly like a "whatever". Then, he got up and left.

* * *

When she found out that there was only one bar in the small town that was still open, the blonde woman let out a deep sigh. She entered it eventually while hoping that it would carry something she would like.

Under the dim light, the bartender greeted her with a wide grin, as if he was showing off his fangs. He took her offer and prepared her drink while she sat down at the bar and looked around.

A group of people sat in the corner, giggling while making out. A man buried his face in a young male's neck, and two women around him looked at him affectionately and intently as if he was the love of their life.

The blonde snorted quietly. She knew that that man was a Vampire. The young guy he was feeding off right now, and the two women beside him were all his enthralled humans. They fell for his Vampire glamour, intentionally or unintentionally, and serving no other purpose but his food. They'd do anything to please him, because he had become their master.

There were two other Vampires sitting at the table behind her. One of them were having an intense discussion on her phone with someone, while the other one was eyeing some human who sat at another table.

The blonde enjoyed her drink alone. With her left hand tucked under her jacket, she ran her finger along the length of the sheath of her hunting knife absentmindedly.

Drowning in her own train of thoughts, she had tuned everything out until a faint smell of fresh blood came to her.

She immediately turned to her left while held the hilt of her knife. Then, she rolled her eyes when she saw that it was just a dark-hair woman sipping a glass of fresh blood at the bar.

It was quite hard for her to fathom the reason why her eyes would be drawn to the woman longer than they should.

Maybe it was simply because she was a good looking woman. Maybe it was her outfit, which hugged her in all the right places. Maybe it was her soft voice when she was battering with the bartender. Maybe it was that smile on her face that allowed everything around her to melt. Maybe it was those blood coated lips. Or maybe, it was those sparkles dancing in her brown eyes. They were coated in fresh blood, and that deep red made her look so much alive, even though she was in fact, a Vampire.

It didn't take long for the brunette to notice her stare, and she turned to her with a gentle grin. One of her fangs biting down on her bottom lip. A hint of blue flicked in her eyes.

"Drinking alone?" The brunette asked her in a sweet voice.

She could feel the brunette's glamour now, a subtle warmth that vibrated in the air, like the air was gently kissing her skin. She pulled her lips into a smirk and replied, "so?"

"Well, if you need some company..." the brunette leaned in a little and gave her a flirty wink.

The blonde chuckled as she looked into those brown eyes. Then, she leaned in and whispered, "I don't mind company, but I don't really do Vamps."

The brunette let out a few amused chuckles while licking her fangs. "Why?" She asked, intrigued, as she looked into those light eyes.

"Well…Vamps are really needy and bossy in bed for one, and the sex is just a bit too messy for my liking, with blood and everything," the blonde breathed into her ear, and chuckled quietly when she felt the brunette shiver a little.

She downed her drink and lifted the corner of her jacket a little, just enough to let the brunette see her hunting knife. She tapped her finger against an embedded piece on the grip, a small, round rune in a blood red color, and looked at the other woman.

She was expecting one of the two responses from the brunette, fear or hatred. After all, those were the two things that the Vampires she had met in her life had given her after seeing that embedded piece, the symbol of the Huntress Guild. However, surprisingly, she saw neither in the brunette's eyes. The only thing she saw, was caution, and strangely, hope?

 _Right, hope_. She gave herself an internal eyeroll and tucked her money under her empty glass. She squinted her right eye at the brunette and then she headed to the door.

To her surprise, the brunette immediately stood up and followed her. She cautiously tailed her all the way into the parking lot outside.

The blonde rolled her eyes and turned around. "Are you really that desperate? Or are you wanting an one-on-one with a Huntress?"

The brunette licked her lips. "No," she said, "I'm looking for a Huntress." After a short pause, she added, "a real one, who's from the Guild, not those fake ones who have no power at all."

The blonde raised her eyebrows. "You are looking for a real Huntress? Why?" She was surprised, and also, curious. Being a Huntress for many years, she had learned that most Vampires either ran away from her or wanted her life as a revenge. No Vampire would approach a Huntress like this.

"I have something-I mean, I have a job that only a real Huntress can do," the brunette told her straightforwardly.

The blonde stared at her for a few seconds, and then she burst out laughing. "You-" she pointed at the brunette, "have a job for me? You do realize that my job is pretty much...killing Vampires like you, right?"

"Oh, bullshit," the brunette drawled. "You and I both know that the Huntress Guild has disbanded a long time ago. You are no longer hunting Vampires under commands."

"Well..." the blonde smirked as she pulled out her hunting knife, "I don't need the Guild's command to kill a Vampire like you."

"Are you gonna kill me then?" The brunette taunted.

"Oh trust me, sweetheart, I'm not that far away from doing it," the blonde leaned in and whispered to her while playfully pressing the tip of her knife against the brunette's stomach.

The brunette cleared her throat nervously and stepped back, but she didn't get scared away. She looked into those light eyes and asked, "anyway, had you been here hunting Vampires there would have been a bloodbath in that bar ten minutes ago. So...are you interested in this job or not?"

"Oh, I don't know, sweetheart, I think I'd have to know what it is first," the blonde drawled. "You want to humor me, now is a very good time."

"Well, l am looking for something, and I need a real Huntress for that," the brunette told her. "I think we should talk somewhere more private, if you want to know more."

* * *

They walked out of town and stopped in the middle of the grassfield. The full moon above them looked down at everything coldly, and everything around them seemed dead.

"Alright, I think anyone who are able to hear our conversation would be those fugly Ghouls now, if they dare to get close enough to either one of us," the blonde said as she quickly looked around. "And if this is you luring me into your trap, you can save all the bs and bring the fight on now."

"I am not luring you into a trap," the brunette said as she rolled her eyes.

The blonde shrugged. "Then tell me what exactly you are after."

The brunette bit her bottom and pondered, before she said, "I want the stake that killed the Blood Countess."

The blonde huffed out a mocking laugh. "Yeah, and I want Cinderella's pumpkin coach," she said sarcastically.

"Hey, I'm serious," the brunette said.

"Well me too, since the stake is just as real as the pumpkin coach," the blonde told her. "In case that you don't know, it's nothing but a rumor."

"Well, she was staked, was she?"

"She was," the blonde nodded, "but it wasn't the stake that killed her, it was the power of the Huntress who had killed her."

She paused briefly, running her fingers through her blonde hair as she looked away from the brunette and into the darkness. "Listen," she murmured, "I don't know what stories you've heard or where you've heard them from, but that stake, it is not like what many believe it is. It does not have any power. I know people all say that it can kill anything, but it can't. That shit is made up by God knows who."

"How do you know? Have you seen it?" The brunette taunted, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

The blonde snorted. "No one has seen it," she said. "No one knows where she's buried. Her mausoleum was empty."

"What if I tell you that I might be the only one who knows where her body is?" The brunette asked her. "Will you be interested in taking this job?"

"You are kidding me, right? You know where her body is, like for real?" The blonde stared at her.

"Yeah, for real," the brunette stared back.

"Well, if you are that sure where her body is, what do you need me for?"

"Only a Huntress can pull that stake out from her body," the brunette explained. "Just...are you interested or not?"

The blonde clicked her tongue as she looked into those brown eyes. "So...let me get this straight, You, a Vamp, are looking for a stake that has kill the Vamp Queen more than six hundred years ago, and now you are asking for help from a Huntress, who basically hunts down Vampires and kill them."

When she saw the brunette nod, she snorted and threw her hands into the air. "This must be the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my entire life!"

The brunette clenched her lips and stared at her. Then, she shook her head slightly and said, "I'll take it as your way of saying no-I-am-so-not-interested then."

"I didn't say I am not interested. It's just that the whole thing is absurd," the blonde told her. "You are looking for something that doesn't even exist."

"The stake does exist," the brunette said firmly.

The blonde let out a heavy sigh and rolled her eyes. She gave up on persuading the brunette, and she thought she should just leave now to save both of them some time. However, deep down, a part of her felt intrigued for some reason. It wasn't about that stupid stake or anything. It was about the brunette. It was that burning devotion in her eyes. She couldn't help but wonder why the other woman was so determined to find something that was considered to be a myth. What was she truly after?

"Fine, I'll go look for the stake with you, only to prove that it is not a magic stake and that it has no power at all," she eventually told the brunette. "And also, you'll have to tell me how you know about the whereabout of her body, and why you need that stake."

The brunette was excited at her answer first, but then she frowned and bit her bottom lip. "When we actually get to her grave and find that stake, I'll tell you everything," she offered. "If it's not good enough for you, I'll...find someone else then."

"Whatever, like I'm really interested," the blonde snorted. A part of her was telling her that this was either the brunette was kinda crazy or this was a trap of some sort, and that she should not go. However, a small part of her was actually curious. The Blood Countess, that stake that had killed her, the mysterious Huntress who ended her ruthless reign, the fight between them, her lost body, there were pretty much the only stories she had heard growing up as a Huntress. She didn't really believe the brunette, because there was no way she could know about the Vamp Queen's grave, but she didn't have anything better to do now anyway. So, why not?

"You have agreed to help me on that stake, right?" The brunette asked her, as if she was afraid that she'd suddenly change her mind.

"Yes, I have," the blonde drawled.

"Good, I'll meet you here tomorrow after sundown then," the brunette said. "And then we'll figure out how to get to her grave."

It was then that she realized that she hadn't even asked the blonde's name. "I'm Bo," she introduced herself as she reached her hand out politely for a handshake.

"Tamsin," the blonde replied simply.

Bo's cold fingers touched Tamsin's warm hand for a brief moment, and then they both withdrew their hands and each took a step back.

"Well, it's nice meeting you, Tamsin," Bo said with a smile.

"Whatever, make sure you pack everything you need, cuz I'm not gonna let you borrow anything of mine for sure. We are gonna split the cost of the trip too. Oh, and if you need to bring your enthralled humans with you, you will have to take care of them on your own, in a separate vehicle."

Bo smiled, and there was a certain vulnerability in her eyes as she said,"it'll just be me."

"Alright then," Tamsin shrugged. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Bo gave her a nod, and then she left. Like a shadow she moved in the darkness, so fast like she was teleporting.

The black dog, who had appeared under Tamsin's foot quietly, sniffed, huffed and hissed at Bo's distance silhouette, like he was very much against the idea of traveling with her.

"Relax, if she does anything stupid, I'll kill her and then you can eat her, okay?" Tamsin told him, and the animal yawned out a slight snort.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I forgot to leave a note about the Blood Countess in Chap 1. Blood Countess is a real person who tortured and killed hundreds of young girls in the 1600s. However, the Blood Countess in this fic would be a different person with some similarities to the real one. Here, she's sort of like one of the first Vampires that are known to people. I will give some back stories of her later in the fic. As for whether she's cold blooded or not, we'll see.**

* * *

Chapter 2

Bo finished packing right before nightfall. When she carried all her things to meet Tamsin outside the small town, the blonde was already there waiting for her.

"Hey, you didn't tell me that you have an RV, " Bo commented as she looked at the RV behind Tamsin. She knew nothing about RVs, and she had no idea what brand or model Tamsin's was. All she could tell was that it was a big, spacious one with an old muscle car hooked to its rear end.

"Where have you gotten the idea in your pretty little head that I need to tell you everything, hmm?" Tamsin teased with a smirk.

Then, she glanced at Bo's things: two suitcases, a light-proof sleeping bag, and an appliance which was designed to warm up the inside precisely to regular human body temperature. She did not see any vehicle, so she asked, "how were you planning to travel to the Vamp Queen's grave with all these things? On foot?"

"Well, I initially planned to rent a van or something and split the cost with you, but since you have an RV..." Bo replied.

Tamsin leaned in and looked at Bo in the eyes with a taunting grin. "Riding in my RV may result in additional charges."

Bo rolled her eyes and dragged a suitcase over. "Where do I put these? On top of the luggage rack or inside?"

"Inside is fine," Tamsin murmured as she lifted Bo's suitcases and pushed them through the entrance of her RV. As she threw the sleeping bag on top of them, she teased, "you are not bringing your heavy, vintage mahogany coffin with you?"

"Vintage coffins only exist in shows," Bo told her. "It's the minimalist era now, and I don't sleep in a coffin, okay?"

She lifted the drink warmer and put it beside her other things. "I mean, sometimes I do but I prefer sleeping in an actual bed as lots of other Vampires do."

"Well, I do have one queen size bed in there, with a five thousand dollar mattress and the softest sheets, but..." Tamsin said as she scrunched her nose at Bo, "...unfortunately, I don't share my bed with Vamps."

"Like I'm gonna share a bed with you," Bo retorted. "I'll take the floor."

"However," Tamsin said as she held back her chuckles, "if you could drive at night while I sleep, I might let you use my bed during the day."

Bo rolled her eyes. Instead of making any comments, she opened her drink warmer and took out a bottle of Vampire drink.

"Vermillion Zero?" Tamsin snorted as she glanced at the label on the bottle. "You know the Zeros are all fake shit, right?"

"Why would you think that I don't know that?" Bo said after she had swallowed her drink. "No one really likes the bottled _real shit_. It's not fresh. It has to be kept cold and when you warm it up it tastes funny. Not to mention that almost half of it is additives anyway."

She took another sip, before she added, "besides, Zero is good for hypersense. It's fake, so it doesn't cause it."

Tamsin pulled one corner of her lips into a mischievous smile. "What's wrong with Vamp hypersense, hmmm? Isn't it like all your senses are suddenly enhanced?"

She lowered her head and breathed into Bo's ear, "also, I heard that hypersense makes sex so much better."

She chuckled softly when she felt the slight shiver coming from Bo. She could also hear that soft moan die in the brunette's throat.

Bo took a step back and downed her drink. "Hypersense can be painful sometimes," she said as she tried to keep her tone flat.

Tamsin chuckled again at that subtle, intrigued tremor in Bo's voice. "Whatever," she said loudly as she got into her RV. She turned back at Bo, expecting her to follow suit, but the brunette just stood there with a look of expectation.

"What now?" Tamsin frowned.

"Umm...I think you need to invite me in," Bo reminded her. Normally she would only need an invitation to enter someone's house but not their vehicles, but there was indeed some energy shielding Tamsin's RV from her. She figured that the RV might actually be Tamsin's home, so in this case she did need an invitation.

"My bad. Come on in, _please_ ," Tamsin drawled, emphasizing the word "please" in sarcastic way.

The energy shield was immediately gone, and Bo hopped in. Once she was inside, she looked around curiously.

The inside of the RV looked even more spacious than she had thought. There was plenty of space two people taking a road trip. In fact, it was big enough for a whole family.

She saw a queen size bed in the very back. Just as Tamsin had described, it looked super comfortable. On each side of it there was a nightstand. Behind it there was a half open closet. There was also a full bathroom with a tub.

Between the bedroom area and the kitchen, there was another half bathroom. The small kitchen had everything one would need to cook any meal. It even had a sharp looking liquor cabinet and a small pantry filled with canned food, cases of water, and also, boxes of bullets.

The living area, where she was standing, did not have a cozy couch or a flat screen TV. There was only a dinette booth. A blanket and a few pieces of clothes were carelessly left on the benches. On the table there was a laptop, a portable scanner, a few pieces of Tamsin's personal belongings, some unopened mail, and several IDs. Bo frowned when she noticed that even though all IDs had Tamsin's photo, each of them had a different name and address.

The large, closed chest on the other side caught her attention before she asked any questions about those IDs. She wondered why Tamsin would have a big, heavy chest with the size of a couch there, instead of an actual couch.

Curiously, she opened the chest. A pair of automated metal brackets lifted up three separate, red velvet covered shelves.

The top shelf held two hunting knives, a collection of darts, one short, two daggers, and a modern crossbow with arrows. Every single one of them had a blood red rune embedded in. Bo noticed that there was an empty slot for a third hunting knife, and she figured that it was the one Tamsin had on her.

The middle shelf had several guns, an old looking, yet shining, revolver, a modern handgun that looked like what a law enforcement officer would use, and a shotgun. There were two empty slots. One was for gun even larger than the shotgun, and the other was for a small revolver. Neither gun was anywhere to be seen.

The bottom shelf had only thing in it, a big, heavy two-handed sword. The reflection of the living room light on its blades looked so cold.

Startled by such a big collection of weapons, Bo absentmindedly laid her fingers on the vintage looking revolver. She immediately let out a soft, painful cry and quickly withdrew her fingers. She frowned at the gun while a blistering heat burnt her skin.

"See, that's exactly why you shouldn't touch my things without permission," Tamsin told her, amused. She picked up the gun that Bo had touched and showed her the blood red rune on the bottom of the grip. The rune looked so bright, as if it was nothing but a tiny pool of fresh blood.

She watched Bo blow air on her burnt finger, before she asked the brunette, "you got any weapons with you?"

Bo shook her head. "Why?"

Tamsin couldn't help but huff out a scoff. Shaking her head, she closed her fingers around the grip of the gun tightly. A red shimmer glowed under her fingers.

"You ever use a gun?"

"Yeah," Bo nodded.

Tamsin nodded too. She waited for the red shimmer to disappear, before she handed the revolver to Bo.

Bo noticed that the blood red rune was magically gone. She hesitantly touched the gun, and this time it didn't feel hot at all. She took it and tucked it in her belt.

"Just so you know, I'm a Vampire. I don't need a gun to take a life," she explained as she got herself a box of bullets and loaded the gun with six of them.

Tamsin's reply was another louder scoff. She gave Bo a small dagger and said, "well, if you ever find yourself tied up in a bed or locked up in a tight space or something, you might find these useful."

Bo snorted as she tucked the sheathed dagger to the side of her right boot. "Maybe I'll shoot you with the gun. I mean, killing a Huntress, I bet I can brag about for a long, long time."

Tamsin chuckled. "You can only try," she told Bo as she tapped Bo's cheek playfully.

Bo was about to say something, but got spooked by something that had suddenly jumped out from the cab.

She was beyond surprised to see a small black dog with long, tousled fur running around her in haste. To her the dog looked like a moving mop made out of dirty, ragged cloth.

"Wow...you have a...dog?" Bo asked. She was beyond surprised that she'd see a dog here. Tamsin didn't look like a pet person to her for one, and she hadn't seen things like a dog bowl, or a dog bed, or anything a dog would like. In fact, there wasn't a single thing in there that would lead her to believe that a dog was living here too.

The dog let out a loud puff like he wasn't very fond of Bo or her question. He circled around her closely, sniffing while letting out low, warning purrs. After giving Bo a few eyerolls and another rounds of puffs, he seemed to have lost interest in her. He wandered into the kitchen, snorted at Bo's drink warmer, and then buried himself under a pile of pots and pans in one of the open cabinets.

"And now you've met the covenant beast of mine, Sugarmuffin," Tamsin told Bo, deliberately faking a cute voice when she said the name "Sugarmuffin".

"You named him...Sugarmuffin?" Bo raised her eyebrows at Tamsin after she failed to make any connection between the dog and sugar or muffin. She thought if it had been her dog she would have named him something like Grumpy or Snuffles.

"Hey, don't look at me. He picked that name himself," Tamsin shrugged. "He spent forever to decide between Sugarmuffin, Cocopuffs, and Buttercup, and he finally settled on Sugarmuffin."

"What the hell is a covenant beast?" Bo asked. She thought she had heard that term somewhere before but couldn't recall the meaning of it.

"I thought you'd have done more research on Huntresses since you were so desperately looking for one," Tamsin commented. She casually picked up a dart from the weapon chest and ran her finger along the side of it, before she explained, "me and him, we are like partners. That's all you have to know."

Like knowing their conversation was about him, the dog made his way out from the cabinet while pushing the pots and pans into the floor. He stood by Tamsin's side and stared at Bo with his bright amber eyes cautiously.

"I think he likes you a lot, by the way," Tamsin told Bo as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Really?" Bo murmured in disbelief as she narrowed her eyes at the dog. The only thing she saw in the dog's eyes was suspicion and maybe a little bit curiosity at most.

As she hesitantly reached her hand out to pet the dog, the dog let out a loud puff which sounded very much like a scoff. Then, he took off and left the RV.

"And you call that _like me a lot_?" Bo turned to Tamsin as she raised her eyebrows at the blonde.

"Oh, yeah, by _likes you a lot_ , I meant, he thinks that you are much tastier than those Ghouls out there and he'd very much like to eat you if I give him a nod," Tamsin explained while holding back her laughter.

Bo couldn't help but punch the blonde on her shoulder, and Tamsin finally let her loud chuckles out.

For that brief moment, both of them felt relaxed, as if they were two friends who had known each other for a long time having a light hearted chat.

Bo sat down beside the booth table and said, "so, anyway, here is what I have-"

"Hold on, sweetheart," Tamsin stopped her. She sat down on the other side of the table and continued, "before you start elaborating your boring plan, let's talk about my rules first."

"Well you better keep your list of rules short then. Otherwise I might fall asleep even if it's nighttime," Bo taunted.

Tamsin huffed a soft scoff out through her nose. "Alright, the first and the foremost, this is my property. I own it, and you don't. While I don't mind you having too much fun when we are in a town or something, bringing anyone here is absolutely not acceptable."

Bo shook her head, unable to hold her soft chuckles. "What if this _anyone_ I bring back here is super hot?"

"Well then in that case..." Tamsin leaned in and lowered her voice into a soft whisper, "...I might let you watch for a minute before I kick you out."

"Fine, I get it, bring no one here. What else?"

"Keep a low profile and keep your mouth shut. Don't tell other people you are traveling with a Huntress. Don't tell anyone where you are going or what you are looking for. Just pretend to be a normal passer-by whenever we stop, understand?"

"That, you don't have to worry about," Bo told her firmly. "Only you and I know about this trip. Well, you, me and...Sugarmuffin."

"And one final rule. If you do anything that I don't like, you know what I'm gonna do," Tamsin warned. She leaned in a softened her tone a little. "I'd hate to see your pretty face rot in a grave with my knife in your chest, so you better watch it."

"Wow, didn't know that sharing space with you could be this easy and comfy," Bo drawled loudly. "I can't help myself from asking one question: why are you traveling alone again?"

Tamsin, however, didn't seem to be offended by her comment. She simply ignored it. Leaning back in her seat, she raised her head slightly at Bo. "Your turn."

"My plan is simple. We find her grave. We dig her body out. You pull that stake out and give it to me, then we go our separate ways," Bo told her. "We can discuss your payment while we are travelling. I can pay cash or…."

Tamsin shrugged, like she didn't believe Bo could offer her anything that she'd like other than cash. "Cash's fine," she said simply, "and I think the best part of your plan is where we go our separate ways. Why don't you tell me where she's buried, hmm?"

"It's somewhere near Somerset," Bo told her, "and I will tell you the exact location when we get to Somerset."

Tamsin huffed out a light laugh. "What you are afraid that once I learn the location of the magic stake I'll just ditch you and go grab it myself?"

"Can't be too careful," Bo shrugged.

"You know, if I want that damn stake I can definitely take it from you and you can't stop me, Bo," Tamsin told her. "I'm a Huntress and you are a Vamp. I'm the predator. You are the prey."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that predator-prey part if I were you," Bo warned her, though her voice was soft and practically teasing.

"Bitch, please," Tamsin rolled her eyes as she turned on her laptop. She checked the map and murmured, "looks like it's gonna be a four day trip, maybe even a five day trip."

"How could it take that long? It's only an 18-hour drive," Bo frowned.

"First of all," Tamsin raised her index finger "maybe you really want to spend 8 hours on the road everyday but not me. Second, the trip takes this long because I'm gonna be making several stops along the way. One of them is quite far away from the route to Somerset."

"Why? I thought we'd just do quick stops for gas and food or something."

"Yeah, for you maybe, but I work for a living, sweetheart," Tamsin told her. "I've got asses to kick and bounties to collect on the way."

"Fine," Bo said. "Just don't expect me to help you on any of those."

"Wasn't planning on that anyway," Tamsin snorted. "In fact, while I'm doing my job I just need you to stay the F away, like as far away as possible, okay? You absolutely do not want to fuck with me while I'm doing my job."

"I'm not gonna fuck with you while you are doing whatever, okay? I just want to find that stake. Are we done talking about your rules yet?" Bo complained.

Tamsin just gave her a mischievous smile and stood up. She went to the liquor cabinet and got out a bottle that only had about a quarter liquor left inside. After taking a sip from it, she took an empty glass out. She raised the glass and her eyebrows at Bo. Bo shook her head and got herself a bottle of warm Vermilion Zero.

A moment of silence embraced them. As they sipped their drinks slowly, they casually looked at each other, trying to figure the other person out. Both of them had caution and curiosity in their eyes, and neither could explain why the other person seemed strangely intriguing.

Tamsin licked her liquor covered lips as she glanced at the brunette. Unintentionally letting her eyes fall on Bo's blood coated lips, she asked, "who else have you talked to? "

Bo clenched her lips slightly in a frown while she pondered. "A dozen others maybe? But...you are actually the first person with whom I managed to have this whole conversation."

"The others all think it's just your lame ass pickup line, and left, huh?" Tamsin teased, and Bo chuckled while shaking her head.

"No," the brunette said, "most of them weren't real Huntress anyway. They turned me down, tried to con me, to capture me or to kill me."

"But, you have talked to real Huntresses?"

"Yeah, two, before you," Bo said honestly. "One of them wasn't interested at all, and the other one really despised me like…."

She trailed off, as she remembered the two encounters she had with those two Huntresses before Tamsin. Actually, they both despised her. The only difference was that the first one coldly implied that Bo didn't deserve her time or attention at all, while the other one attacked her with pure hatred and anger.

Both of them looked at her with the same scorn in their eyes, and that matched to the stories she had heard from other Vampires, that Huntresses and Vampires were nemesis. Vampires feared Huntresses more than they hated them, but for Huntresses it was quite the other way around. To them, Vampires were just a group of creatures too disgusting for them to care.

However, she hadn't seen that scorn in Tamsin's light eyes so far. She could see many things in them, like that casual, flirty smirk, like those fierce flames hidden deep, like that shining flicker of passion. She could see many things, but scorn was definitely not one of them.

"Why did you...agree to take this job?" Bo couldn't help but ask. After a short pause, she asked another question, "how many Vampires have you killed before?"

"Don't you think that's more of a second date question?" Tamsin scrunched her nose at Bo.

"What you think you are gonna scare me?" Bo asked as she licked a few drops of warm, thick liquid off her bottom lip. "Or you are just too embarrassed to tell me because you suck as a Huntress?"

"Trust me, sweetheart, it's a long list of names," Tamsin told her, "so long that I've lost count of it a long time ago."

She tried to make it as a harmless joke, but she couldn't stop that subtle bitterness creep out from her voice. She cleared her throat and added, "just stay off that list, okay?"

"Funny, 'cause I was gonna warn you about the same thing," Bo retorted.

Tamsin rolled her eye and started to work on her laptop.

Bo sat there and quietly enjoyed her drink while knowing that it was just a thick liquid that looked and tasted like blood, and all it would do was to temporarily trick her body into thinking that she wasn't thirsty for blood.

After a while, Tamsin closed her laptop and told Bo,"alright, I'm gonna go get some rest and you, stay awake. Start driving as soon as Sugarmuffin comes back."

"Right, where is he?" Bo frowned as she remembered that the dog had left the RV and she hadn't seen him since.

"Outside," Tamsin pointed at the window. "Eating his dinner."

Bo frowned harder at the word "dinner" as she wondered what could Sugarmuffin possibly be eating in the wild at this time of the night. Then, she came to a rather surprising conclusion. "He eats Ghouls? What-what breed is he anyway?"

"Don't know. Don't care," Tamsin shrugged.

"Where did you find him?" Bo asked curiously. Having a dog who could hunt and eat Ghouls right now was truly a great thing, because for the past few decades Ghouls had been posing as a great threats not just to humans but Vampires as well.

"That, is a story too long for my liking. And also, what makes you think I need to share it with you?" Tamsin teased.

"Whatever, Tamsin. Can I at least know when he's gonna be back?"

"When he finishes his dinner."

"And when would that be?"

"Just give it another forty minutes or so," Tamsin suggested while giving Bo an I-don't-really-care smirk. Then, she went into the bedroom and closed the door behind her.

The end of the conversation left an emptiness in the air. Everything quieted down all of a sudden.

Bo opened another drink while looking through the window. It was just edgeless darkness and endless wilderness outside, with screams, monsters, deaths, blood and torn flesh. It reminded her what a weird, twisted world she was in, and that she was alone.

* * *

 **A/N: Vampire hypersense is something I made up for this fic (I barely read any Vampire-verse stories/fics/novels, so I have no idea if anyone else has had similar concept), which refers to the state a Vampire might be in after consuming a large amount of human blood. Think of it as the high blood sugar in humans after consuming lots of carbs. Vampires sometimes don't like that, so that's why Bo was drinking a drink called Vermilion Zero which is 0 "calories" for Vampires (similar to Coca-cola Zero or Pepsi Max, 0 calories for humans).**

 **I would introduce more about how Vampire lives are like in this fic as the story unfolds.**

 **I will also explain more about Huntresses and what Tamsin does for a living in later chapters.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

A couple of hours before dawn, they arrived at their first stop: a town named Watermill.

Bo parked the RV outside the town. She felt thirsty, and she was also low on Vermillion, but she wasn't sure if she should left the RV alone.

Before she had made a decision, Tamsin got out of the bedroom.

"Wasn't expecting you to get up this early..." Bo murmured as she looked at the blonde. With her hair untied and messy and her shirt half buttoned, Tamsin looked harmless, soft, and maybe a little...enticing?

"Hungry," Tamsin explained to her simply. Her voice was a little husky and still full of sleep. She flipped her laptop open and leaned over to check her emails first. Then she tied up her hair loosely and put on her azure leather jacket.

She made her way into the passenger seat without making any comments on Bo's gaze. "Just go in and find a place to eat. I could really use some coffee and fresh pancakes," she commanded. After taking a glance at Bo, she added, "and who knows, maybe they'll have warm, fresh blood for you too."

Bo nodded. She pulled the RV into the road and followed other cars to the gateway.

At the gateway, there were a long line of cars there, waiting to be inspected by the town guards. The line slowly moved forward, and then it stopped for a long time. When it started moving again, Bo saw that a car that was in front of their RV was forced to pull over, and then several guards pulled a person out of the vehicle. They dragged him to the outside of the town, and soon they all disappeared in the darkness.

"Whoa, what was that about?" Bo murmured.

"Probably some seriously injured dumbass trying to get in," Tamsin snorted.

Bo nodded. A barely audible sigh escaped her lips.

They waited and waited, until a yawning guard came to them. The guard took the flashlight off his belt and turned it on. He pointed it at Bo first, and when he noticed that Bo's pupils hadn't shrunk in the bright light, he threw his chin at Bo and asked, "You a Vamp? Can I see your fangs?"

Bo answered him with a fang showing smile.

The guard nodded. He circled to the other side and examined Tamsin. After finding nothing unusual, he demanded, "IDs, please."

He checked Bo's first. When he switched to Tamsin's, Bo suddenly felt a little nervous because it was one of those IDs she had seen on the table in the RV. She had figured that those might be fake IDs, and she feared that the guard would find out.

The guard, however, didn't seem to be aware of that. He just compared the photo on the ID with Tamsin, before he gave it back to her.

He asked them to step out from the RV afterwards, and went in to examined the interior. After finding nothing dangerous or illegal, he let them go back inside and let through.

"Stay outta trouble, okay?" He warned them.

"Or you can tell the trouble to stay outta my way," Tamsin told him with a cocky smile.

After they parked the RV, they walked down along the main street of the town looking for a place to eat.

It was four in the morning, chilly, pitch dark outside. Anyone not familiar with Vampires' schedule would think that this would be the quietest time of the night, but this was in fact the busiest hours for most Vampire friendly places, since these nocturnal creatures would love to party before they had to go hide before dawn.

Ever since the Vampires had blended into the society, a lot of things had changed to suit their needs as well. Most stores, restaurants and other public places would open 24 hours on the days that they were open. The Vampire-friendly restaurants would no longer distinguish daytime/nighttime meals. They would just serve breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner on one menu at anytime.

It wasn't just for the Vampires either. Many humans, especially the enthralled ones, had adjusted their schedule to match their Master's. And then there were always people like Tamsin, who enjoyed getting up early sometimes for a good meal, for Vampire business, or just for fun.

As they walked through an alley, they encountered a group of humans. Some of them simply fled when they noticed Bo's fangs. A couple of others, however, stayed there.

They seemed to have a lot of anger towards Bo, but were too intimidated to do anything. Eventually the leader stared at her viciously while spitting on the ground.

Then, he turned to Tamsin and cussed, "you should be ashamed of yourself, bitch."

"For what? Being too nice to punch your fugly face right now?" Tamsin taunted with a scoff.

The man seemed agitated, but his friends just dragged him back and they all left.

Tamsin huffed out a snort through her nose. "I guess we are in the wrong part of the town," she murmured as she checked her phone. "No wonder...we turned left too soon…."

"And whose fault is that?" Bo teased.

* * *

Stopping at a café, Tamsin tilted her head slightly towards the entrance and raised her eyebrows at Bo.

Bo stepped forward and checked the signs on the glass door first. She was pleased to see a sign of a pair of Vampire fangs (indicating that this café was Vampire friendly), and a sign of a blood droplet (indicating that the café would also serve fresh human blood).

"Looks fine to me," she shrugged at Tamsin, before she went in first.

The place was too crowded, and they had to wait. While they were there waiting, one of the receptionists kept winking at Bo.

"Wow, didn't know you were this popular," Tamsin commented after taking a glance at the receptionist.

"Hey, what can I say? I'm a nice person," Bo told her.

"Yeah, right, 'cause that's what he reeeeally wants, a nice person," Tamsin drawled.

"Well...for those who prefers Vampires, single Vampires are just really popular," Bo explained with a lazy shrug. "He didn't see with any enthralled humans and suddenly I'm just super attractive to him."

"Don't be so proud of yourself," Tamsin huffed, though her tone was mostly amused and soft.

It took forever before they were finally seated. A waiter came over and introduced himself. He gave both of them a fang-revealing smile while handing them them the menu.

After he introduced them their specials for today, he leaned forward slightly to Bo's side and said with a polite voice, "we serve both Vermilion and Ruby. We do serve Cerise but we are out of Cerise Zero for today."

"I think I'm gonna go with something other than the bottled drinks tonight," Bo told him.

"Very smart choice," the waiter commented. He straightened his body and gestured Bo to take a look at the bar. "We do proudly serve warm drinks, as you can see."

At the bar, a petite woman with heavy makeup was serving drinks. Behind her, a dozen humans stood there in a row. Most of them looked exhausted, but still maintained professional smiles on their faces.

They wore same uniforms as the waiters, but in addition to that each person was also wearing a smartphone-sized pump on one of the their forearms. Some of them were chatting while others were checking their phones or yawning.

"I'll take a glass of warm drink," Bo told the waiter with a smile.

"Which one do you prefer?" The waiter asked Bo as he suggested her to take another look at those humans.

"Hmmm...that's a really good question..." Bo eyed each one of them. They all looked great to her.

"Do you have any preference on the taste? Or would you rather take a random pick?"

"Is there one that is thick, sweet and...with a strong kick?" Bo asked.

"If you prefer thick, sweet with a kick, you should definitely try number 4," the waiter suggested.

Bo let her eyes follow the waiter's hand. She assessed the human wearing a "4" tag on his chest. It was a slender man in his early twenties, with a pair of rather innocent dark eyes. A line of tattoo ran from under his bottom lip all the way down to his chest. The lower half part of the tattoo was covered by his shirt.

"Alright, I'll try number 4 then," Bo nodded.

"One glass of warm drink from number 4 for you," the waiter wrote it down. Then he turned to Tamsin and asked, "and for you, Ma'am?"

"Just two of your jumbo pancake combos. Also coffee with a shot of vodka," Tamsin said.

"What flavor of pancake would you like?"

"Buttermilk and buttermilk," Tamsin pulled a fake smile at him as she handed him the menu. "With strawberry slices. Over medium for the eggs."

"Alright, I'll be right back with your orders, okay?" The waiter gave them a smile and left.

" _Warm drink_ , pfft," Tamsin mimicked the way the waiter and Bo had talked about the fresh human blood served here. "Why can't you just call it human blood for fuck's sake…."

"Oh I don't know, some asshole in the government probably banged his head into something so damn hard that he came up with this stupid, useless law," Bo complained with an eyeroll. "We can't say _blood, fresh blood or human blood_ when making an order in restaurants now. And I can't even remember the reason they gave for that because it was too stupid."

"Yeah, since when are they not stupid..." Tamsin snorted while checking her phone.

As she was doing that, Bo's order came. The guy with the tag "4" came over with a small, clean glass. He put the glass down in front of Bo and greeted her. When he smiled, his eyelids drooped a little, but it didn't make him look sleepy. It gave him a cute, lazy look.

He reached his right arm out slightly and pushed a button on the pump on his right forearm. A small nozzle popped out from the bottom of it. He pulled the nozzle out further and pointed it at the empty glass.

He pressed a second button on the pump, and a green light in the middle started to blink. A second or two later, his blood was pumped into the glass.

The thick, warm liquid slowly filled the glass, and Bo was watching it closely. Just the smell of it made her lips dry and her throat clench.

The green light went out as the blood filled about three quarters of the glass. Number 4 smiled at Bo again, and said, "enjoy."

"Thanks," Bo smiled back and nodded at him.

"If you want a second glass, just let me know, okay?" He told her. "I can do another glass or two tonight, and then I'll be off for two weeks."

"Sure," Bo nodded at him again and watched him walk back to the bar.

She raised the glass to her lips and inhaled the scent of it first. Then, she carefully took a sip. A satisfied sigh left her lips as she licked the blood off them.

It was just what she wanted, thick, sweet, with a strong kick. It tasted soo much live, like the essence of the guy's life was right inside the glass. Bo gulped it, and then she closed her eyes and sighed again.

"That good, huh?" Tamsin teased.

"Oh, you have no idea..." Bo answered in a low voice. Then, the real, fresh blood kicked into her system, and she just let herself drown in it. Everything became more vibrant around her. The voices of others, and the background music turned into a pleasant melody.

The waiter eventually brought Tamsin her breakfast: two plates each with a stack of three pancakes topped with strawberry slices and syrup, two over medium eggs and two pieces of bacon.

Tamsin shook her head and chuckled when she saw the look of ecstasy on Bo's face. She picked up a piece of bacon with her fingers and tore a big piece off it with her teeth.

"Well, why don't you order a couple more and maybe get yourself some vamp tramps too. I think there's a bunch of them behind you," she slurred.

Bo turned around, and saw three humans, two men and one women, sitting right behind her. When their eyes met, one of the men and the woman immediately turned away blushing. The other one, though, held her gaze boldly. He seductively pulled his collar to the side to show Bo the lower left side of his neck, where there were several messy bite marks. Some of them seemed new while others looked almost healed.

Bo licked her lips as she stared at that spot. She had just had a glass of fresh blood, and her senses were so sharp now that she could practically see the pulsing artery through his skin.

The glass of blood she had just had was amazing, but it was always much better drinking it off someone directly. Always much better.

"Ahem," Tamsin coughed loudly. When Bo turned to her, she gave the brunette a smirk and said, "you know you can't do them here right? I'm pretty sure that there was another stupid law prohibiting drinking directly from someone inside restaurants too."

Bo rolled her eyes. She was about to move over and flirt with them more, but when she saw Tamsin putting cash under her empty plates, she asked, "are you going back to the RV now?"

"No, but I won't stay here and join your little foursome either," Tamsin replied. "I got job to do, remember? And while I'm doing that, you stay the F away from me."

"Yeah, yeah," Bo replied absentmindedly while half of her mind was trying to figure out which one of them she should go for first.

"Don't have too much fun, or you might burst into flames," Tamsin told her with a wink.

"You don't think I know that?" Bo rolled her eyes. "I'll be back at the RV before dawn."

* * *

Tamsin went to meet one of her clients who lived in Watermill. It was a Vampire woman who lost her child to another Vampire, and she had hired Tamsin to eliminated the killer.

Tamsin met with her in a bar, and showed her the proof of killing. The woman paid her in sobs. Tears of blood came out from her eyes and stained her cheeks.

Tamsin's next stop was the Vampire Crime Division office in town, where all nearby Vampire related crimes were processed and investigated. However, since Vampires were hard to kill or arrest, the division would constantly seek help from others, especially from Huntresses. In exchanges, they would offer Huntresses and hunters information too.

Tamsin was there to gather some information on a case she was working on. As she was waiting for her case copies, she went to check out the most wanted list posted in the hall.

She noticed that some familiar names had disappeared from the list. Two of them got caught, and the other was killed while he was on the run.

A few new fugitives made it to the list. One of them caught Tamsin's attention.

It was a male who, not only would enjoy drinking blood from young women, but also interested in torturing them and cut them into pieces. One of his victims, and also the latest, was actually local.

Tamsin wondered if the killer was one of those Vampires she had seen in the restaurant or maybe outside in the street. After staring at "up to $80,000 reward" for a few seconds, before she entered her name into the list of bounty hunters who intended to seek the killer.

She requested a copy of the case, and an officer gave her one copy together with the other information she had asked for.

She went to sit down on one of the chairs in the hall to take a break while checking her phone for new messages posted on an online message board used by Vampire hunter groups and some Huntresses.

She browsed all the posts: Vampire serial killers; possible dumping sites where multiple bodies were discovered; mysterious Vampire graveyard; strange deaths of Vampires which lead people to believe that someone was killing Vampires (though others believed that those Vampires were in a cult and they died for some ritual). There were also posts discussing what kind of weapon would be best against Vampires, different ways to capture Vampires, and anything and everything about catching, killing or hunting down Vampires.

There were also jobs posted: people looking for real Huntresses to catch or kill Vampires. Some of the cases were certainly worth reading but none of them would interest her.

She decided to go to the library the next. The libraries in Vampire-friendly zones, like other places, would open 24 hours a day to accommodate both humans and Vampires.

She did some research there on the serial killer case, and contacted a few people she thought might be worth talking to later. Although this case was not something she had originally planned to work on while in Watermill, she figured that she might as well talk to the witnesses since the latest victim was from here.

She visited the morgue afterwards to check out the victim's dead body. There was, however, no clue for her there to work on.

Her last stop was the store. She got some food, more water, and some Vermillion per Bo's text request. After gassing up her RV and filling up the water tank, she parked it in a secluded parking lot and texted Bo the location.

She scanned the files she had just gotten so she could look at them on her laptop later. Then, she went into the bedroom and opened one of the nightstands.

Inside there was a safe. She opened it and put the case files in. She took out a journal book and closed the door.

It was a vintage style journal, with a thick, brown leather cover. The pages inside, and the corners of the cover, were a bit tattered. Everything was bound together by a piece of leather cord. In the center of the cover there was a hand pressed wing pattern there. As Tamsin slowly ran her fingertips across the pattern, it glowed vaguely.

She sat in bed and untied the cord. After carefully flipping through a few pages, she wrote down today's date. Then, she wrote: on my way to Vamp Queen's grave. It's going to be nothing but a joke. More Vampire serial killings, seems that the world is getting crazier by day….

She wrote down a few more things, and then she locked her journal in the safe.

She came to the living area again, gulped some water quietly and had some snack. Then, she reached into her shirt and pulled her necklace out.

It was a thin, silver chain, with a round, silver pendant with the size of a quarter coin. The pendant had the same wing pattern as her journal cover.

She took her necklace off and held the pendent in her right hand firmly. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and focused on the pendent.

"Kyriv fina stia' yigiv..." she chanted in a language only Huntresses could speak. "Rina'ekiv sida racha taa'rin…."

A bright, white-blue light burst out from her pendant all of a sudden, so bright that it seemed to have devoured everything for a moment. Like resonating with that light, all the blood runes on her weapons in the weapon chest started to glow.

"Uao'nq okiav tomrha loudoria madilina..." she continued, and the glow from the blood runes brightened.

As she finished her chanting, she put her pendent on the table and pulled out her hunting knife. She cut the side of her palm and let her blood drip down into the pendent.

The light from the pendent vanished, and the blood was immediately gone the moment it touched the surface of the pendent. The pendent turned red.

She watched her own blood dripping down, one droplet after another, and suddenly, the door to the RV was slammed open and Bo stumbled in.

Bo was beyond high. Bright blue flickered in her eyes, and there was nothing but excitement on her face. Her lips was still covered in blood, and a pale pink flushed her cheeks, making her look warm and alive.

"Whoo hoo!" The brunette exclaimed as she threw herself into the empty chair by the table. She almost tripped for she sat down too hard. Mumbling incoherently, she lazily lolled there while letting that ecstasy run through her system.

She had not felt this high in a while. The hypersense caused by all the fresh blood she had just had actually started to hurt her, but it was definitely worth the pain, at least for now.

She gasped in short, shallow bursts as she opened her eyes and glanced at Tamsin. She was about to say something, but stopped when she finally noticed the smell in the air.

She actually noticed it the moment she stepped in, but at that time she thought it was the blood on her lips. Now, she realized that it wasn't. The smell of it was too peculiar. It was strong, yet soft, hot yet cold.

For a moment Bo thought she actually tasted it on her tongue. It was unbelievably sweet, yet it had something in there that made her heart tremble-even if it had stopped beating a long time ago.

"Whoa!" She exclaimed as she jumped out from the chair. "Do you smell that?" She asked Tamsin, "what is that…? It smells…."

She trailed off as her eyes fell on Tamsin's left hand. The blonde still had her hunting knife in her right, and there was a fresh cut on the side of her left palm. It was still bleeding a little. A drop of blood slowly ran down along the contour of her hand.

Bo couldn't move her eyes away, and she finally figured out what that smell was. She swallowed hard, and wondered why her throat had suddenly gone dry again. It almost felt like she was thirsty again, despite all the fresh, warm blood she had just had.

"It smells what?" Tamsin asked her with her eyebrows raises.

Bo licked her lips feverishly. With her most of her mind clouded by the pain brought by her hypersense and the sweet smell in the air, she replied in a whisper, "it smells...delicious…."

As the word "delicious" fell out of her mouth, she suddenly realized how stupid she must be. She squinted her eyes and shook her head as she cleared her throat repeatedly.

"I mean…" She attempted, "what are you doing? Why are you cutting yourself?"

"Huntress business. You wouldn't want to know," Tamsin replied simply.

"What if I do want to know?" Bo retorted absentmindedly. Her eyes were glued to the blood drop that was now dripped down from Tamsin's hand.

Tamsin pulled her lips into an amused smirk. She wiped the blood off with her thumb, smearing it around the cut a little. "Like what you see?"

"Yeah..." Bo immediately replied. Then, again, she realized how stupid she must have sounded. "I mean, no," she quickly corrected herself while shaking her head repeatedly as if it would make her statement more convincing.

Tamsin's cut was no longer bleeding. However, that sweet smell still lingered in the air. As it made its way into Bo's nose again, she felt a sudden thump inside her chest. It wasn't her heart, of course. It was her thirst.

 _What's wrong with me today?_ She asked herself. It was beyond strange to her, that even though she had had two full glasses of blood, and also fed off three humans, she could still be this thirsty.

Then, she stared at Tamsin again. This time, she made sure that her eyes stayed away from that damn cut wound. She saw nothing but teasing smile in those light eyes, and suddenly, she wondered, _is it because of this bitch's blood?_

"Easy there, you dirty little Vamp," Tamsin's teasing voice came to her. "Stop staring at me. You are not gonna get any of my blood."

Hearing the word "blood", Bo's eyes immediately slipped to that cut wound again. She felt confused, and also somewhat relieved, that the cut seemed to have healed already. There was only a light pink scar there.

"Didn't say I want any of it anyway," Bo said as she rolled her eyes.

Tamsin chuckled. "Ugh huh," she murmured as she looked at Bo closely. For some reason she found the current situation very amusing.

"Hey, if I wanted your blood, you think you can stop me?" Bo blurted, and then she had to bite her bottom lip because the idea of taking it without Tamsin's permission seemed too tempting.

Tamsin put her necklace back on and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "You know...I might change my mind..." she leaned in and whispered into Bo's ear, "...if you beg me."

A soft moan escaped from Bo. She took a deep breath and stepped back, for that idea was equally tempting.

"Look, I am not interested in your blood, okay?" She told Tamsin. Afraid that the blonde would tease her further, she said, "it's almost dawn. I'm gonna go get some sleep."

She never waited for Tamsin to say anything. She just went back into the bedroom as fast as she could and closed the door behind her.

She stood there quietly while waiting for her thirst to go away, and she was beyond relieved that the sweet smell in the air had disappeared.

She couldn't really explain what had happened to her. She thought maybe it was her hypersense. It made her super sensitive to smells. Maybe it was Tamsin's blood. Some people's blood just tasted better than the others. Or, maybe, could it be that she was a Huntress? Bo knew that Huntresses are stronger than humans and even most Vampires. They might not have a night vision as good as hers, or a sense of smell, but they sure would have more stamina and strength than her. Maybe whatever that it was that was making them stronger would also make their blood "stronger"?

That sudden burst of thirst seemed to have still lingered inside her, and for some reason, she felt a bit scared by that strong craving. She had not felt this way for decades, not after she had learned how to behave properly as a Vampire. She had learned how to control her thirst. She had learned how to survive on things like Vermillion while occasionally feeding off humans. She had learned not to jump on anyone whenever she smelled or saw blood. She had learned not to drain any human. That strong urge she had felt just a moment ago, reminded her that no matter how hard she tried to contain herself, that thirst inside her would never fade away.

* * *

Tamsin was a bit surprised that Bo practically fled into the bedroom after she had teased her. She thought at least Bo would take a chance, just like many other Vampires had done in the past. Unlikely Bo, she was aware that a Huntress' blood sometimes could seem irresistible to Vampires. Several Vampires had stated that while she had casual fling with them. She never let anyone actually take her blood, not even a single drop, but that hadn't stopped them from trying.

She chuckled again when thinking about how nervous and dazed Bo had seemed. And also, she curiously wondered why Bo had fled.

Sugarmuffin, who had come back into the RV in stealth, sprawled on the floor lazily. He snorted at the bedroom loudly, before he closed his eyes and started to snore.

* * *

 **A/N: the Huntress language is nothing but some gibberish that I made up. It might appear later though.**

 **As for the Huntress blood...yeah it's a parallel to Valkyrie's Chi in LG. They are strong specie, therefore their blood is stronger too. But, of course, there might be some other reasons for Bo to feel so attracted to it :)**

 **There will be some flashbacks from both of them (or at least one of them) soon, maybe in the next chapter or two. It's for the plot, and also for them to know each other better.**

 **Thanks for reading! xxoo**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

As the sun slipped closer and closer to the horizon, the entire world outside the RV dimmed down. The weak, warm sunlight rendered everything with a faint, orange hue.

It was late afternoon for humans, but "morning time" for Vampires, including Bo. The brunette woke up to the orange hue. She looked through the window behind the closed blinds. It was one of the few moments in the day that she could actually be exposed to the sunlight without getting hurt. Right now, it just made her feel warmer than normal.

She liked that warmth. It made her feel alive.

After a round of yawning, squirming, stretching and moaning, she finally got out of her sleeping bag. She took a quick shower first. After she dried herself and got dressed, she folded her sleeping bag and tucked it under the bed.

She walked out of the bedroom, feeling relieved as that intoxicating scent of Tamsin's blood had been completely gone.

"Relax," Tamsin's voice came to her. "I'm no longer bleeding."

Bo met the blonde's light eyes. There were nothing but playful tease in them. Tamsin gave her a smirk, as if she could see right through her.

"Who cares if you are bleeding or not," Bo retorted as she gave Tamsin's hand a quick glance.

She was surprised that the wound was nowhere to be seen. There wasn't even a scar there. In fact, if she hadn't seen that bleeding wound yesterday, she would never have believed that Tamsin actually had a cut to the side of her palm.

Tamsin looked into Bo's eyes. She found the brunette's curiosity amusing. And also, even though she never would admit it, a soft, warm flicker in those browns seemed to draw her attention every time she looked at them.

"I heal fast," she eventually explained to Bo simply.

"Wow...that's almost like...instant heal," Bo commented. Even Vampires wouldn't heal that fast, unless they had access to a good amount of fresh blood right away.

"What can I say? I'm a Huntress. I'm better than you in every aspect," Tamsin told her teasingly.

"Well you are certainly bitchier, that I can vouch for," Bo taunted as she went to the fridge. She got herself a small bag of fruit slices, before she went to sit down at the table.

Even though she would no longer need to eat anything other than blood to survive, she would still enjoy eating things that she liked before she turned a Vampire. Fruits had been one of her favorites.

"Whatever, I'm better than you. Bite me," Tamsin told her with her nose scrunched.

It was nothing but a simply, cocky taunt, yet to Bo, the word "bite" somehow tickled her in a way very different than being taunted. Suddenly it reminded her of Tamsin's blood, and she couldn't help but wonder if it would taste as good as it smelled.

Feeling too embarrassed by those ideas, she cleared her throat immediately while taking a nervous glance at Tamsin, as if she was afraid that Tamsin could somehow sense her thoughts.

The blonde, however, didn't seem to be paying attention to her at all right now. She was looking at her laptop screen intently while typing something. There was a half empty beer bottle beside her laptop, and also a stack of files.

Bo watched her for a few seconds, before she looked through the window again to see if the sun had completely gone down. She was surprised that it looked like they were still outside Watermill.

"Hey, why are we still here? I thought you'd have at least driven like 200 miles while I was in bed. Shouldn't we be at our second stop by midnight or something?"

"Well, sometimes things change," Tamsin told her. "I hate to tell you this but we will have to stay here for one more day."

"Why?" Bo frowned.

"There's a case that...I have this case," Tamsin explained without giving Bo any details. "And there's a witness I need to meet tonight."

"Oh..." Bo shrugged with a small frown. "What you are a detective now?"

"No, it's just that solving this case means a shit load of cash for me," Tamsin replied.

"Oh," Bo drawled. "Cash, huh...so, what kind of case you are working on?"

"The kind that I don't want to discuss with you?" Tamsin murmured absentmindedly.

Bo snorted loudly. Instead of continuing the harmless bicker, she sat there quietly while finishing her snack.

Her attention was slowly drawn to Tamsin. She couldn't explain why she would watch the blonde working so intently. There was something in those light eyes, or maybe in Tamsin in general, that drew her in.

Was it because she was a Huntress yet she was different than the other Huntresses she had met before? Was it because of her looks, or that she seemed to have some mysteries hidden deep? Bo couldn't tell, but for a moment, she couldn't move her eyes away.

After she finished her snack, she got bored again, and it was still too early for any Vampire fun in town. Out of curiosity, she decided to take a peek at Tamsin's cases files.

She took off the folder that was on top of the stack and opened it. She had never read any crime related files before, and it took her quite a few minutes to figure out how to read them and what they had.

Unlike the case files in shows she had seen on TV before, the ones that she was reading right now, were beyond boring. There were pages after pages of witness statements, many of which were written with handwriting so bad that she could barely read.

She gave up on reading the files in her hand right after she concluded that the case was about some serial killer Vampire in this area.

"You are trying to catch a serial killer Vampire?" She asked Tamsin.

"Hey!" Tamsin shot her a cold stare as she leaned over and snatched the file folder from Bo's hand. "Did I tell you that you can read this?"

"Well you didn't tell me that I can't either," Bo retorted as she grabbed the second folder just to protest.

The moment she opened the folder, she froze as a series of crime scene photos entered her vision.

It was blood everywhere, and it took her a few seconds to finally realize that those objects in the blood were dead bodies. Before she could close the folder, she saw one photo where a young woman was cut open and stuffed behind a dumpster like a bag of trash. And then, there were her eyes, dead, but still wide open.

"Whoa! This is kinda fucked up!" Bo commented as she tossed the folder back to Tamsin. She shook her head slightly and closed her eyes, but that image of those wide open eyes were still right there. She shuddered.

Tamsin licked her lips as she glanced at Bo She could sense that there was a subtle tremor in Bo's voice. It sounded like fear, fear that wasn't solely from crime scene photos.

"Scared?" She teased while watching Bo closely.

"No way," Bo denied. She opened another bottle of Vermillion, thinking that her favorite drink might wash that fear away. However, instead of comforting her, the thick liquid in her mouth suddenly seemed too heavy for her liking.

"Haven't seen anything like this before, huh?" Tamsin murmured.

"I-no, I haven't," Bo answered as she shook her head firmly. Though, that hesitation still seeped through her voice.

She took a deep breath, and asked, "Do you...you always work on cases like this? Serial killer Vampires and...and dead bodies?"

"Killer Vampires, yes. Serial killer Vampires, no," Tamsin explained. "It's very common that Vampires sometimes kill. Most of them are like feeding accident, having taken too much blood, not knowing how to stop, or worse…."

"Yeah..." Bo murmured in a nod. She had heard numerous stories about Vampire feeding accidents. Afterall, that thirst of blood was an urge so strong that many had failed to resist. In fact, in her early days, she had to learn and practice how to feed off humans without causing any deaths.

She was also fully aware what Tamsin had meant by "or worse". Some Vampires would lose control over humans. Not only would they drain the humans, they sometimes would also go after the flesh too. Once they had it, they could never have enough of it. After taking a certain amount of human flesh, the Vampires would slowly change into Ghouls, the crooked, ruthless creatures lurking in the darkness who wanted nothing but human flesh.

Changing into Ghouls, that was perhaps her, and many other Vampires', worst nightmare. Even though she was no longer a human, even though she had to drink human blood to survive, she still wanted to believe that there was some humanity left in her, that she was not a complete monster. Thinking that she might have the same dark desires for human flesh made her feel sick.

"...anyway," Tamsin's voice pulled her out of her train of thoughts, "in terms of serial killers, Vampires aren't more likely, or less likely, to become one than humans."

Bo nodded. "So...this is a rare case then? You...emmm...have you seen cases like this before?"

"Of course I have," Tamsin replied. "Why?"

"Just curious," Bo told her. "Anyway, emmm...so you have seen things like this before? Murders, blood, deaths?"

"Well...I don't know if you are familiar with the _dark era_ when everyone is killing everyone, but I've seen plenty back then," Tamsin said, "but, that shit ended a long time ago, and now we don't have that many mass murders. That's why this mother fucker made it to the most wanted list."

"Do you have any idea who the killer is yet?"

"I might soon if I don't have to waste all my time answering your stupid questions," Tamsin drawled. She gathered her things and put on her jacket."Now if you would excuse me, I have a witness to interview."

With that, she stood up and gave Bo a flirty wink. Then, she left.

* * *

Bo chuckled quietly while shaking her head. She slowly sipped the rest of her drink in silence, before she eventually decided to take a look at those case files again.

She prepared herself for those brutal murder pictures, before she opened the folder. She looked through the photos, one after another.

Multiple victims. All young women, all died the same way, covered in blood, cut open, then dumped like pieces of trash. She could still see fear on their faces and she wondered if fear had been the only thing they had felt right before they had been killed.

She stared at all the blood in those photos. It looked as if the killer deliberately made the victims' blood pour out and color everything in scarlet.

For the first time in a long time, that color, that vibrant, bright red, suddenly made her feel sick.

She put those photos away and got herself a bottle of ice cold water.

She wondered if Tamsin had suspected anything when she told the blonde that she hadn't seen anything like that before.

The truth was that she had seen something like this before. Many years ago, she had witnessed a mass murder as brutal as this one, if not more. The blood. The deaths. Their lifeless, wide open eyes. They haunted her since.

They haunted her through her entire childhood. She went to one therapist after another. She sought for all kinds of help. She screamed during sleep when awakened by her nightmares. Until, time slowly washed off the colors, the sounds and the smells of those memories.

For a long, long time, she thought those memories would no longer hurt her. She thought she had grown out of them. She thought she was strong enough now. She had never thought seeing those crime scene photos would bring back all those memories to her like this.

Those memories. They never left her. They lurked in the darkness like hungry beasts, and now they found their way back.

The stormy night. The darkness that had invaded her room. The loud thunders and the bright lightnings outside. An unlatched window kept banging into the wall in the gust. The shadows of the trees shuddering in the pouring rain. The sultry air. The sticky sweat on her face and her back. The buzzing light in the hallway. The dripping faucet.

She was awakened by something, and she could barely breathe. In the darkness, in the dead silence, she sense that something was wrong.

She still remembered that feeling, like there was a hair pricking her skin, or a long legged insect creeping up the back of her neck.

She was in her room, alone. She did not hear anything unusual, or see anything abnormal, yet somehow she felt that something was wrong.

Bo stopped before she put herself through all the terrifying things again.

She decided to have some Vampire fun in town. She knew she needed some fresh blood, and maybe some carefree flirting to push those heavy feelings and horrible crime scene photos out of her mind.

Although, she wasn't entirely sure if having fresh blood right now would be a good idea for her, after seeing that many blood in those photos.

* * *

Tamsin met her eye witness, a young woman named Lydia, at a bar. Unlike many bars in town, which had Vampire friendly signs on their doors, this bar did not. Instead, it had a hand written sign behind the window which read "No Vamps or Vamp Tramps".

As she entered the bar, the bartender probed her with his penetrating gaze while putting one of his hands on a shotgun on the counter. Tamsin rolled her eyes internally and gave him a nod and a fake smile.

There weren't many customers inside the bar. At the corner table, Tamsin saw a girl sitting there alone. She was maybe in her early 20s, if not late teens. Her long, red hair seemed a bit too messy and it made her look pale and exhausted. She had her lips clenched tight and her fingers clasped together. She squeezed them so hard that her knuckles had turned white.

Tamsin walked over, and stopped at the table, leaving reasonable distance between her and the young woman. "Lydia?" She called with calm, almost nonchalant voice.

The woman's head jolted like she was spooked. She stared at Tamsin with her blue eyes. There was nothing but the flames of fury and fear inside.

"I'm Tamsin. We spoke on the phone," Tamsin introduced herself as she sat down at the other side of the table.

"Oh, yes...yes of course," Lydia nodded while letting out a sigh of relief. She gave Tamsin a tight smile as she took a sip from the glass in front of her, as if it would make her look more natural.

"So, you are the sister of the latest victim who-"

"Her name is Joan," Lydia interrupted her with her teeth gritted. Then, she paused and lowered her eyes. After a brief, awkward silence, she softened her voice and corrected herself. "I mean, was...she umm...yeah, I'm her sister, and she was the...Joan was the latest victim of…."

It seemed that the "last victim" part had taken all her strength away. She could no longer finish her sentence. She bit the tears that were welling up in her eyes as she took a swig. She choked and coughed hard.

"You said you were with her the night she disappeared?" Tamsin asked.

The woman gave her a nod while holding her own left wrist in her right hand. She kept turning her wrist as if it bothered her a lot or something.

"Care to tell me where you two were the night she disappeared?" Tamsin pursued.

"At a bar," Lydia said with a bitter smile. She turned away and snuffled, before she quickly wiped her tears off with her sleeves.

"And the name of the bar is…?"

"It's...Midnight Blue. It's one of those bars where..." Lydia murmured, the furious flames in her eyes burning brighter now, "where those bastards are hunting for their preys."

"You mean a Vampire bar?" Tamsin asked.

"Yes, a Vampire bar," Lydia bit out. When she said the word "Vampire", her voice turned bitter and venomous.

"Okay...Midnight Blue, a Vamp bar, noted," Tamsin nodded. "What else can you tell me? Do you remember anything unusual?"

Lydia huffed out a scoff. "What you think those monsters can be usual? There's nothing usual about them. They are a bunch of murderers. They are disgusting."

"Yeah, totally," Tamsin said impatiently. "Just...describe everything that you remember to me, okay?"

Lydia took a deep breath and shook her head slightly. "There's...really not much to remember. It was one of those parties where every kid that I know was dying to join. The music was loud, and everybody was either drunk or high. There were so many of them…."

"So many of whom?"

"Vampires," Lydia told Tamsin. She stopped briefly as she unconsciously pressed her hand to the side of her neck and started to rub a spot where a pair of teeth marks vaguely shown.

She let out another bitter scoff, before she continued, "I used to like them, you know. I was so fucking stupid…."

"Lydia," Tamsin interrupted the young woman's mumble. "Joan?"

"Joan and I...we….I thought she was with me, you know, but I don't know...I was so doped...when I got sober again, most people were gone already. She wasn't in the bar either. I thought she just...you know, she hooked up with someone and went home with them or something. So, I...I just went home, thinking that she'd be back later."

"But, she never came back."

Lydia shook her head. "No," she replied. "She wasn't answering her calls. She was nowhere to be found. I called the police, and then...four days later, they found her-they found her…."

She wasn't able to get the word "body" out. After taking a gulp from her drink, she let out a series of incoherent coughs while pointing to the east of the town. "They found her behind a dumpster. That son of bitch...he dumped her like trash."

"Well, that son of bitch is a cold blooded killer. He's crazy," Tamsin told her. "In order to catch him, I really need you to think, okay? When you were at the bar with Joan that night, did anyone approach you or her? Anyone who made you feel uneasy?"

Lydia shook her head hesitantly. "I don't-I don't really remember. I mean...it was a big party. Lots of people were flirting around. A lot of Vampires talked to us. We talked to a lot of them. I don't-I feel sick just thinking about that I actually liked them before."

"Do you remember anyone that might fit the police's description then?" Tamsin asked as she handed Lydia a few sketches of the possible suspects made by the police.

Lydia looked at each one of them with disdain as if she wanted to kill every single one of them with her eyes. "I don't..." she murmured, shaking her head. Her tears flooded out, and she started to sob.

"How could they do that?!" She bit out, choking in her own tears. "How could they kill her?! She was only 21! How could they have done this to someone like her?!"

Tamsin sighed. "Not they," she corrected her. "The killer killed your sister. The others have nothing to do with it."

Lydia raised her head and shot Tamsin a glare of disgust. "They have nothing to do with it?! How could you say that?! " She forced the words through her clenched teeth.

She stood up and leaned over, pointing at Tamsin with an accusing finger. "Please don't tell me that you are on their side now. How could you? Can you not see how gross and dangerous they are? They are a bunch of monsters, murderers, who deserve nothing but to rot in hell!"

"No one is on anyone's side, okay? All I need is some information that might lead me to the killer," Tamsin explained to her.

Lydia was too consumed by her rage to answer her, though. Tamsin sighed and stood up.

* * *

"If you think of anything, just give me a call, okay?" She told Lydia before she left.

Tamsin went back to the RV, thinking that she'd make some notes about the case and then she'd go to bed. To her surprise, Bo was in the RV too.

"Aren't you supposed to be sucking blood off someone right now?" Tamsin teased as she pointed at the darkness outside. "Like...Vampire happy hours, remember?"

"I had dinner and I came back," Bo answered simply.

They both went quiet for a bit, before Bo asked, "how did your interview go?"

Tamsin shrugged. "Not going anywhere," she admitted honestly. "Bitch probably was too traumatized being the sister of the last victim…."

"You've met the sister of the last victim?" Bo raised her eyebrows as she looked at Tamsin.

"Yeah, she was with her the night she disappeared. Didn't get anything from her, though," Tamsin grunted.

"Well, too bad...maybe she could have remembered something, had you had some _charms_ ," Bo commented with a saucy grin. She waved her fingers in the air like a magician and released her power of glamour. She chuckled when she saw Tamsin rolling her eyes.

"How many times do I have to tell you that your glamour won't work on-" Tamsin suddenly stopped. She narrowed her eyes at Bo, before she suggested, "hey, maybe _you_ should go talk to her."

Bo's grin got wider. "Really? I should talk to her?"

"Well, she's a human. I'm sure she'll fall for your stupid glamour in a heartbeat."

"So, you want me to talk your witness? Hmmm...does this mean that, you, a Huntress, a predator, are desperately asking me, a Vampire, a prey, for help?"

"Don't flatter yourself," Tamsin retorted. "You are sitting in my RV, eating my food and using all my stuff. It's time for you to pay some _rent_."

Bo chuckled again as she held Tamsin's gaze with smile dancing in her brown eyes. "I guess I could talk to her," she drawled, "if you ask me nicely."

Tamsin snorted. She took another glance at her phone, before she faked an innocent, vulnerable voice, "fine...would you pleeeease help me?"

Bo almost choked on her drink. "If I help you, what do I get out of it? Your non-existing gratitude?"

"Oh, I don't know. Let me see...how about not getting ass kicked by me, hmmm?"

Bo licked her lips while smiling at the blonde's rather soft taunting. "Or," she proposed, "you can share that big, fat reward check of yours with me."

"Yeah, dream harder, sweetheart," Tamsin told her as she tapped her cheek playfully. "Though I can promise you that if you do an excellent job, I'll buy you some _warm drinks_."

Bo seemed to be a bit nonchalant about that idea. She slowly sipped her Vermillion for a while, before she finally asked, "so when do I talk to her? Now?"

"Yeah, right, like I'm gonna go all the way back there at this time of night...I'll see if she can meet us tomorrow evening," Tamsin murmured as she dialed Lydia's number. "This better work..."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

For a moment, Bo couldn't hear anything but herself breathing heavily. It almost sounded like she was wheezing.

She felt this pressure inside her, like her lungs refused to work as they should. She couldn't tell if she was inhaling the air, or pushing it out forcefully.

There was a dryness in her throat. At first, she thought it was because she breathed too hard. She swallowed over and over, but that dryness just wouldn't go away.

She opened her eyes in the darkness, and flinched when a loud thunder exploded right outside her bedroom window.

She jolted and sat up while gasping hard. There was this uneasy feeling, and it was crushing her all of a sudden.

Her body no longer felt like hers. Her muscles were too lax and she was breathing too fast. She leaned over to the nightstand and fumbled through the things on top of it.

She grabbed the half glass of water she had left there before she went to bed and downed it. That dryness in her throat, however, got worse.

She thought it might be the water. It had been left out for too long and turned lukewarm. Maybe a glass of ice colds one would do, she thought.

She got off bed. The moment she put her weight on her feet, she stumbled. It was as if she suddenly forgot how to walk. She thought she had just raised her leg for a few inches, but it jolted and she almost hit her own face with her knee.

 _What the hell?!_ She thought in a big frown as she carefully and slowly put down her leg.

She inched forward till she could grab the stair rail. Going down stairs was another task that had become extremely hard for her. She almost fell off from the middle of it.

After she finally reached the living room downstairs, she wondered if she should alert her parents since she couldn't tell if her body had gotten lighter or numb.

 _Should I go to the hospital, or is it just me waking up without getting enough sleep, and also the damn weather?_ She thought while moving towards the kitchen.

She got herself a bottle of water from the fridge and gulped it. Instead of making her feel better, it made her feel worse.

That dryness was not gone. She got a rising thirst inside her. Also the cold water chilled her to her bones, which had never happened to her before, at least not in the middle of the summer when it was over 80 degrees.

She thought she must be sick. Before calling for her mom, she went into the bathroom, thinking that she'd take a look at herself in the mirror first.

She turned on the light, and flinched in reflex to that brightness, like somehow she disliked it, or even feared it.

She shook her head and turned to the mirror. She froze when she saw nothing in the mirror.

Well, actually, everything was in the mirror. The colorful, zigzag patterned shower curtain, the towels hanging on rack beside it, various things beside the sink in front of her, and the wall behind her. Everything looked exactly the same and absolutely normal in the mirror, except that she wasn't in the mirror.

It was as if she didn't exit.

She pulled a towel off the rack and used it to wipe the mirror. Then, she started to wipe it with her hands as fear rose inside her. The mirror was clean as new, but still, she couldn't see herself in it.

 _This must be a dream. Yeah, totally, this is totally a dream. I am still dreaming._ She told herself while tapping her cheeks.

Before she could determine whether she felt the pain, that strange thirst rolled inside her again. It was so strong that she almost ripped.

She opened her mouth when she felt a sudden pain in her upper gun, like something was growing inside and about to burst out.

She looked into the mirror again, and still couldn't see herself in there. She had to feel her gum with her own fingers instead. There, she discovered an extra pair of teeth, or rather, fangs.

It was then that she suddenly figured out what had happened to her. Thirst and panic took turns, trying to rip her apart.

She took a deep breath, forcing the air into her trembling lungs. She put her shaking hand to her chest, and pressed it tightly against her chest right above where her heart should be.

There was no flutter underneath. She felt nothing. It was as if she had lost that throbbing organ. It was as if she was dead.

She grabbed the edge of the counter so she wouldn't collapse. She wanted to call her parent. She wanted to call for help. She wanted to scream, but she couldn't get a single sound out.

A dizziness came to her, and she groaned in pain as she squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened them again, everything was different.

The colors around her became more vibrant, almost too vibrant and they started to hurt her eyes. She could smell everything in the house. She could even smell things outside the house, for example, the trash in the trashcan outside.

All kinds of sounds came to her, like there were a hundred people inside her ears whispering loudly. The thunders became deafening now, and she wondered how long it would take before they broke her eardrums.

She cried out in pain when hit by the intense headache. When she raised her head again, everything in the mirror disappeared, but she could see herself again, and the dark shadow that was closing in on her.

Overwhelmed by a sudden fear, she screamed.

* * *

With her breath short and shallow, and her eyes still closed, Bo struggled hard inside her sleeping bag trying to break free. That comfortable, soft sleeping bag felt like a little coffin to her now. It trapped her in, suffocating her, making her a hostage of her own nightmare.

Suddenly the darkness was gone as her sleeping bag was unzipped. Light poured in, and burnt her exposed skin. She groaned painfully as she curled up in the corner of her sleeping bag.

Her sleeping bag was quickly zipped up again, leaving only a small opening for her to breathe more fresh air.

"You were screaming like really loud," Tamsin's voice came to her. It sounded like a casual complaint, but with a hint of concern.

"I was?" Bo murmured as she carefully wrapped her sleeping bag around herself, leaving only her nose outside.

The burning sensation on her skin faded away, and it was then that she felt the cold sweat on her back and in her palms

"I didn't know Vamps could have nightmares," Tamsin commented. "In fact, I didn't know Vamps dream at all."

"Then you didn't know Vamps at all," Bo mimicked Tamsin's tone weakly. "We do dream, and I just had a bad one."

"Whatever, like I care," Tamsin snorted. "Are you gonna get up, go back to sleep and keep screaming or what?"

"I...ummm…I think it's still too early for me to…" Bo mumbled as she turned to peek at the window. Even with the blinds, the noon sunlight was still too bright for her. It wouldn't kill her, sure, but it would make her feel like she was being burnt by acid.

The dreadfulness of the nightmare slowly faded away. She convinced that it was just a bad dream, a piece of memory that had been long forgotten, something that she had gotten over with for decades now. She felt a bit frustrated that it would still haunt her like this.

"Can I have a bottle of Vermillion," she asked Tamsin in a low voice.

"Sure, why not, princess?" Tamsin drawled as she fetched the brunette a bottled drink. "If you leave even a tiny drop of that shit on my sheets, you are gonna hand wash it."

Bo was too exhausted to make a comment. She pulled the bottle into her sleeping bag, sat up and downed her drink.

After handing Tamsin the empty bottle, she said, "I think...I think I'm gonna go back to sleep."

Tamsin wanted to make a snarky comment but there was a certain vulnerability in Bo's voice. That vulnerability made her sigh. "Whatever," she murmured. "Just don't forget we have a witness to meet later."

"Yeah..." Bo muttered and closed her eyes.

She was surrounded by nothing but darkness again. For a brief moment she missed the burning sensation on her skin, because that seemed to be the only real thing now, the pain.

She didn't know if that thought should scare her or make her feel sad.

* * *

Bo got up after nightfall. She freshened up a little and went into town to meet Lydia.

Knowing that Bo couldn't access human-only places while Lydia wouldn't step her foot into any Vampire-friendly places, Tamsin decided that they should just meet in a neutral zone: the town square.

The town square was right in the middle of the human only zone and Vampire-friendly zone. Not many people would go there at night, so it was pretty empty.

"Don't fuck this up, okay?" Tamsin warned Bo as she scanned the surroundings. She saw someone moving in the shadows of the woods across the square, but she didn't consider them as a threat at all since they looked like humans.

"Why would you assume that I'd fuck up?" Bo protested. "And even if I get nothing from her, it does not hurt at all since you got nothing from her anyway."

Tamsin rolled her eyes. "Remember," she lowered her head and whispered to Bo, "if you can get her to talk, I'll buy you warm drinks."

"Yeah, yeah..." Bo murmured. After her nightmare she was not really into the idea of warm drinks right now (though her body was), but she wasn't ready to tell Tamsin that.

As they were bickering, Lydia showed up. She cautiously approached them after watching them from distance for a while.

"Who is this?" She asked Tamsin as she frowned at Bo.

"Someone I brought," Tamsin answered while gesturing Bo to glamour the girl.

Bo gave the girl a comforting smile, and the girl immediately mirrored that smile. Before Bo cast her full power on Lydia, though, the smile on Lydia's face went away.

When Lydia saw the tips of Bo's fangs showing, her face was distorted by disgust and rage. She fell back to distant herself away from Bo.

"You are a Vampire!" Lydia exclaimed as she pointed at Bo. She looked so furious that Bo thought for sure Lydia would flay her.

Lydia clenched her fists like she was going to punch Bo. After a second or two, she turned to Tamsin instead and bit out, "you brought a Vampire?!"

"Well, she might help you remember things," Tamsin explained to her.

"I don't need the help from a fucking monster!" Lydia yelled. "How can you be standing here with a Vampire and doing nothing?! Aren't you a Vampire hunter? Why haven't you slit her throat already?!"

"Because I'm more interested in solving this case so the killer gets arrested, you can have your closure and I can claim the reward in cash," Tamsin replied impatiently. She fully understood that the young girl was angry and sad because she had lost her sister, but she found that rage irritating.

Lydia answered her by spitting at her. Then, she did the same to Bo. She stepped forward and stared at Bo with flames of anger burning in her eyes. "You! Stay away from me!" She yelled at Bo while pushing her back forcefully. "My sister died because of monsters like you!"

Tamsin rolled her eyes and grabbed Lydia's arm. She pulled the young girl away from Bo before Lydia could punch Bo in the face. "She's not the killer, okay?"

"Yes, she is! They all are!" Lydia flung her arm and pulled it out of Tamsin's grip. "They are a bunch of blood sucking, disgusting abominations! They should all die and rot in hell!"

She cussed Bo and Tamsin repeatedly before she stormed away in rage.

"Wow, that's..." Bo murmured in daze, "...unexpected."

"And why the hell did you have to let her see your stupid little fangs?" Tamsin complained in a frustrated groan.

"Hey, that's not something I can control, okay? When I glamour people, my fangs grow out," Bo argued.

"Great, now I'm back to nothing, because of you," Tamsin murmured.

"Well, when all you had is nothing the entire time, it's not _back to nothing_ ," Bo corrected her, and got a cold glare from Tamsin.

"Fuck this shit," Tamsin cussed. "I'm gonna go get a drink, and you are buying."

Bo didn't make a comment. She looked at Lydia who was maybe thirty feet away from them already and about to walk by the woods.

She remembered that she had seen a couple of people moving in the woods when Tamsin and her had gotten here, so she told Tamsin, "why don't you go find a bar and text me the location? I'll meet you there in a bit."

"That is the lamest excuse I've ever heard for not buying me a drink," Tamsin scoffed.

"No, I mean, I will. I will buy you a drink, I swear," Bo blurted absentmindedly. "I just...I want to make sure that she gets home okay,"

Tamsin rolled her eyes hard. She wanted to tell Bo that her kind gesture wouldn't make Lydia like her, but there was this genuine concern in those brown eyes and her snarky comments somehow all died in her throat.

Bo gave her a slight nod, before she took off after Lydia. She wasn't sure if it was those shadows she saw in the woods, or the fact that she had gone through similar tragedy just like Lydia. She knew the pain too well to hate the young girl.

* * *

Tamsin found a bar that she'd like, and texted Bo the location. While waiting for the brunette, she casually flirted with a handsome guy at the bar.

They ended up playing a dart game where she kicked his ass hard. Then, she took the challenge from other people and started another game, then another.

She had a lot of drinks, and a lot of fun. It wasn't until the first ray of the rising sun came in through the window had she realized that it was morning already.

She frowned at the sunlight, feeling a little dizzy from all the alcohol she had consumed. Then, she realized that Bo had never showed up.

Tamsin let out a growl and paid for her own drinks. _Bitch's doomed_. She thought in anger as she slammed the counter with cash.

She went back to her RV, thinking that Bo probably ended up having some Vampire fun herself instead of meeting her last night.

To her surprise, Bo wasn't in the RV either. Sugarmuffin was the only one there, and he greeted her with some lazy growls and loud burps.

"Hey, where did the bitch go?" Tamsin asked.

The dog gave her a don't-know-don't-care eyeroll.

"Have you seen her since last night?"

The dog shrugged and shook his head.

 _Huh._ Tamsin frowned as she took out her cellphone. Bo hadn't replied her text, nor had she left her any message indicating where she had gone to or what she had been doing.

She thought Bo must have stayed at her prey's place because she had too much fun and couldn't make it back to the RV in time. With the sun so bright, Bo must be inside some sort of shelter right now, unless she had a death wish.

Tamsin called Bo, ready to yell at her for not showing up, but Bo's phone was disconnected.

Tamsin's frown got deeper. She tried one more time, before she lost her patience. She decided to locate Bo by locating her phone using a software she had.

The software returned the result in seconds, telling her that it was unable to locate the target.

 _Unable to locate the target?_ Tamsin narrowed her eyes at that line of text. She knew it meant that Bo's phone was now off the grid, and it was not transmitting signals to or from any cell tower. But, why? Where had she gone to?

Tamsin sensed that something was wrong, so she decided to go back to Watermill again to find Bo.

Knowing that Bo went to escort Lydia home, she contacted Lydia first, thinking maybe the young girl could give her a clue, but it went straight to her voice mail. She went to the young girl's apartment, but there was no one there.

Tamsin checked the restaurants serving fresh human blood, but no one in any of them had seen Bo last night.

She then checked the two Vampire parlors in town the next, where feeding off humans directly was allowed. Those two half brothel half bar places were filled with snoring Vampires and exhausted, pale humans. Bo, however, wasn't among them.

Tamsin had no choice but to check out all the Vampire-friendly places: bars, stores, even the library. Then, she asked a couple of people who were selling warm Vampire drinks along the street, before she went to the Vampire Crime Division to make sure that Bo wasn't locked for doing something illegal.

Bo was nowhere to be found, however, and Tamsin tried her phone again. Still no luck.

"Bitch I swear if you passed out somewhere for having too much freshly squeezed human juice..." she growled before she made a call to one of her contact who could trace the last known location of any cell phone.

Her contact gave her a result almost immediately. As Tamsin put the coordinates into the map app on her phone, she was beyond confused, since that location was about 10 miles away from town and the satellite images at that location showed her nothing but rubles and abandoned buildings. It looked like a part of the old town which had been taken over by the Ghouls or the wilderness a long time ago.

Tamsin wondered why Bo would go there. Did someone steal her phone and bring it there? Did she meet someone and follow them there?

She decided to take a look, just to make sure that Bo wasn't in any trouble. Though, she immediately laughed at that thought. What trouble could a Vampire possibly be in these days, besides feeding accidents? Ghouls feared Vampires, and so did humans. And last time she checked, she was the only Huntress in town.

But, if Bo wasn't in any trouble, where was she now and why hadn't she returned to the RV?

* * *

The abandoned part of town still had rows of houses and buildings, only that they were old and about to collapse at anytime. In the broken windows and holes in the walls, the wind was making a strange weeping sound.

Tamsin walked around and canvassed the whole place. It was empty and dead. No one was there but herself. She didn't see Bo anywhere either.

Tamsin sighed as she stood in the middle of a playground in front of a daycare center, where the equipments were rusty, the swing was broken and the smiling animal tricycles looked super creepy with their paint chipped and color faded.

She looked around again, wondering why Bo would have come here last night, and more importantly, why her phone had gone off grid here.

Having found nothing, Tamsin eventually decided to check all the buildings one more time before going back to her RV.

She passed by a single family house community. Nothing looked abnormal, and all the houses were all empty. When she took a peek at one of the backyard, however, she noticed that some of the tall weed had been crushed, like someone had trode them carelessly.

There was no one in or around that house, though. It seemed that nobody had been there for a very long time.

 _Maybe someone stopped here once to take a leak or something?_ Tamsin wondered while standing in the middle of the living room of the house, with a bunch of rotten furniture and fallen roof pieces around her.

She sighed and decided to go back to the RV. Just when she was about to leave, she saw some sparkling thing half buried under a pile of old rubbish in the corner of the room.

She went over and kicked the trash away. There, she saw a beer cap. If the sun hadn't happened to shine through the right hole in the roof the right moment, she wouldn't have seen it sparkle at all.

She frowned at the beer cap, before she took out a small notebook that she had carried with her. She tore a piece of paper off it and used it to wrap around her fingers to pick up the beer cap.

It looked like it had been recently dumped here. Its color hadn't faded at all, nor was it covered in rust.

 _Who the hell would come here and have beer? It's the middle of nowhere and there are hundreds of Ghouls hidden behind the trees._ Tamsin thought as she stood up and looked at the entire place again.

 _Maybe some dumb kids came here for some dare game or whatever?_ She wondered, but then she thought, if someone came here for a party or for any types of fun, they would have left a lot more trash behind other than a single beer cap. In fact, it now almost looked like someone did have fun here maybe, and they carefully cleaned up but missed the cap since it was buried under the trash. Then, the question would become, why would anyone bother to clean up a place that had already been trashed and abandoned?

Tamsin pulled her hunting knife out cautiously and examined every room again. After finding nothing unusual, she went out to examine the front yard. As she looked at the front side of the house, she noticed something above the front door for the first time.

It was a drawing on the outside of the chipped wall. If she hadn't been actively looking for something she wouldn't have noticed it at all, because it was in a light beige color which was almost the same color as the old walls.

It looked like a sign, or a symbol drawn by hand. Three fletchings inside a circle, one large in the middle and two small ones on the side.

Tamsin narrowed her eyes at the drawing. She found the symbol surprisingly familiar.

She knew she had seen it somewhere before, but she was having a hard time figuring out where exactly she had seen it.

It wasn't something she had seen while she was in the Huntress Guild. It was something she had seen recently.

 _Where have I seen it?_ She pondered, wondering if it was from those cases she was working on, but she didn't remember any of them involving this weird symbol.

When she thought about the serial killer Vampire, she suddenly remembered something. It was another serial killing case she had read about on the Vampire hunters' message board a couple of days ago. She read that while she was waiting for her copy of case files in the Vampire Crime Division office in town.

She saw a similar sign in that discussion, in those crime scene photos other people had posted. The symbols carved into the victims' back, they looked exactly like this one, three fletchings inside a circle.

It was definitely from that serial killing case. It wasn't a case committed by Vampires. Quite the contrary, the Vampires were the victims in that case. During the past decade, around the country, Vampires would mysteriously disappear and then their dead bodies would be found. No one had any clue about the killer's identity or whereabouts. The only clue left at the scene was this symbol carved into each and every dead body. Some people thought those Vampires might have joined some secret cult and it was their way of reaching the happily ever after, while others proposed that there were a vicious Vampire killer out there.

 _So who the hell drew these damn chicken feathers here and why?_ Tamsin wondered as she searched the house again.

Knowing that there must be something to look for in this house, a slight different air flow finally caught Tamsin's attention.

It carried over a very faint, foul smell. Among the smell of the old house, the moldy floor, the rotten furniture and all the trash and stinky things inside, it was almost impossible to distinguish.

It didn't get carried in by the wind from the outside or above. It came from somewhere inside the house, or rather, underneath it.

Tamsin hadn't seen a basement entrance anywhere the first time she searched the house, so she never thought she should look for a basement, but now, that smell told her that something must be under the floorboard.

It didn't take her too long to find that hatch door hidden under a piece of old rug. In fact, it was just a big piece of floorboard that looked as if it had come a bit loose, but that bad smell leaking through cracks around it told her that it was the entrance of the space below.

Tamsin took a deep breath and tightened her fingers around her hunting knife. "Oh you stupid little bitch…" she murmured. "What fucked up shit have you gotten yourself into?"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Tamsin lifted the hatch door and jumped in. That putrid odor was everywhere. It was so thick in the air that she could practically tasted it on her tongue.

She turned to the side and covered her mouth and nose as she looked around in great caution.

She found herself in a dark basement, where the only light source was the dangling light bulb above her.

In front of her, there were a few chairs and an old couch. The futons on the couch had some long, old rips, where the filthy stuffing stuck out. There were some dark brown stains on the futons too, and she suspected them to be blood.

Some personal belongings were scattered on the floor, including two mugs full of herbal tea which were still warm.

Tamsin frowned at the tea. It was a blend of flowers and roots that were believed to be Vampire repellents and it was popular among some human Vampire hunters. Though, Tamsin knew there was no such thing as Vampire repellent herbs. It was yet another myth circulated among humans who didn't have much of a solid idea about how to scare away or kill a Vampire.

As she walked to the back side of the room, she saw two closed doors there. Each door had a three-feather-in-a-ring drawn in the middle with fresh blood.

Tamsin carefully touched the drawings and noticed that the blood was actually dried. It just had a brighter color. Maybe whoever drew the signs had put some dye in the blood to make it look fresh.

Tamsin quickly took a few pictures of the drawings. Just as she wondered which door she should kicked down first, a man existed the door on the left.

It was a middle aged human who was carrying a rifle on his back and a falchion on his belt. His hair was tousled, and so were his long beard. His clothes were old and ragged, with coagulated blood and dirt all over.

Started by Tamsin's presence, he took off his rifle, about to alert other people that was down here. Before he made a sound, though, Tamsin knocked him out by smashing her elbow into his face.

"You are fucking welcome," she told the guy in a low voice, before she entered the door that he had just opened.

Behind that door, it was a long, narrow corridor with small rooms on both sides. There were several dangling light bulbs, some of which were already out.

The bumpy ground, the rough walls and the fact that the corridor wasn't even straight made Tamsin believe that this place was built by amateurs. It reminded her some private holding cells she had seen while working on a case a while back. A Vampire couple dug out a massive space under their house without anyone noticing, and made that place into a dungeon in which they kept several young humans as their prisoners.

She remembered that smell. It was a mix of old blood, feces, vomit and mold, just like what she smelled here, only it was ten times stronger here.

Slowly moving forward, she checked out the small rooms one by one. Some of them were just empty with suspicious stains all over the place. Some of them had ragged clothes and old, tattered personal belongings scattered around and covered in dirt and excreta.

Some of the rooms had body checked them carefully. She wanted to find something that could lead to the identify of the deceased, but she found nothing. Even the dead bodies weren't in one piece. All she found was maybe a part of a limb, or a piece of scalp with hair still attached.

Under half of a highly decomposed female pelvis in one of the rooms, she found a partial skull half buried in the dirt. It was a piece of an upper jaw bone, which still had some teeth left. She noticed that there was a pair of Vampire fangs.

 _So this one was a Vamp._ Tamsin thought as she checked the other remains in the room. She was a little surprised and confused when she found some remains that belonged to humans.

She initially assumed that whoever was down here might be involved in that Vampire serial killing case where the same symbol had showed up. She figure that this must be one of the places where the Vampire killers met up and kept their prisoners, but she wasn't expecting to see human remains here as well.

 _Maybe they kill whoever that is Vampire-friendly too?_ She wondered as she moved on to other rooms. _These are some seriously fucked up fuckers._

A weak, muffled groan came to her. She went to check on that, and found Bo tied up in a small room with some puncture wounds on both of her arms and a few bleeding cuts over her body. Lydia was with her too. She was sitting against the wall and she seemed unconscious. Though unlike Bo, she wasn't tied up or injured.

"Oh great," Tamsin murmured while rolling her eyes. It was just like what she had suspected: Bo must have gotten caught by some anti-Vampire group last night and they imprisoned her here to torture her.

Tamsin sighed and leaned over. She tapped Bo's cheek gently as she urged, "hey, wake up."

Bo muttered something with her eyes still closed. Unconscious or not, she wasn't responding to Tamsin's request at all.

Lydia, however, was awakened. She jolted at Tamsin's voice and opened her eyes wide at Tamsin.

Tamsin untied Bo and the brunette immediately collapsed into the ground while murmuring something incomprehensible.

Knowing that Lydia was still staring, Tamsin turned to her and asked, "are you leaving too or are you gonna stay here and enjoy the fantastic view?"

Lydia didn't answer her. She stared at Tamsin for a second or two, and then she looked down at Bo. Tamsin thought she'd say something, but all of a sudden the young girl just jumped up and ran out.

"She's here!" Lydia yelled. "The fucking Vampire's friend's here!"

"We are not friends," Tamsin hissed as she dragged Lydia back. She held the young girl by her collar and warned, "and stop screaming."

Though, it was too late. A group of armed people rushed into the corridor from both sides. There were men and women, old and young, all humans, all looked like they hadn't bathed for days. When they looked at Tamsin, hatred burnt in their eyes. They cussed as they pushed forward. Some of them already had their guns pointing at Tamsin.

A middle aged woman, who seemed to be the leader of the group, stopped her people from jumping on Tamsin immediately. She raked Tamsin with disdain while rubbing her thumb on the grip of a dagger that she was carried.

"Ummm...I'm pretty sure that's mine," Tamsin pointed at the wing pattern of the blood run embedded in the grip. It was the dagger she had given Bo for self protection.

The leader spat into the ground. "You don't deserve it," she announced, and all the others agreed and cheered.

"You think you do?" Tamsin raised her eyebrows at the woman.

"Traitor don't deserve it," the woman told her and spat again. "Only those who kill Vamps do."

Tamsin scoffed and glanced at the rooms behind her. "So you think locking Vamps up and torturing them makes you a hero of some kind?"

"Hey, watch it!" A guy behind the leader warned her loudly and pointed at her with his unsheathed knife. "You gave your weapon to a fucking Vamp! I would just kill myself out of shame if I were you!"

"Well, you are certainly not me, and I don't suppose a fugly like you would really believe I would take orders from you?" Tamsin taunted coldly.

The man growled in rage and pulled his gun out, but the leader told him to stand down.

The leader paced slowly in front of Tamsin while staring into her eyes. "I don't feel sorry for what we've done to our prisoners. I don't feel sorry at all."

"And let me guess, the reason for that is probably, _they deserved it,_ am I right?" Tamsin scoffed.

"The little girl was right. You are on their side," the leader said with a disgusted look. "At first I thought I must have heard it wrong. A huntress would take the monster's side instead of the humans? That's fucking disgusting!"

"I'm not on anyone's side," Tamsin corrected her. "Whatever pathetic reason you think you have, Imprisoning innocent people and torturing them is illegal. It's the law."

"The law written by traitors and cowards!" Another man yelled angrily. "They are just as guilty as the fucking Vamps! They should all die!"

The group cheered and chanted "they should all die! Die!"

Tamsin rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Have fun with your delusions. I'm leaving."

"Oh, no, you are not leaving," The leader told her her. "You are gonna stay here and we are gonna have a long conversation until we knock some sense into your Vampire loving head."

"Not interested," Tamsin shrugged. "I am actually very busy. If you want to talk to me, take a number."

She had barely taken a step forward, before the leader pointed a shotgun at her.

"You are not leaving, Huntress," the woman squeezed the words through her clenched teeth. "Now, put your knife down."

Tamsin frowned and looked down at the hunting knife she was holding. "This?" She raised her eyebrows at it as if she had just heard something ridiculous.

"Put. It. Down," the leader demanded again while loading her gun. She gave a quick point to Tamsin's knife, and then to the ground.

"Alright, alright. I'll put my knife down. There's no need to shoot, okay?" Tamsin mumbled as she slowly got down. "It's just a knife, you know..."

She placed her hunting knife on the ground and moved her fingers away from it while staring back at the leader.

"Now get down on your knees," the leader demanded.

Tamsin huffed out a snort through her nose. She slowly lowered her left knee, as if she was following the woman's command. However, instead of putting both of her knees down to surrender, she pulled out a revolver (a gun she had always carried on her right ankle) and started to shoot at people's legs.

Painful groans and screams exploded inside the narrow corridor as she fired her revolver. The moment she emptied the chamber, she picked up a gun someone had just dropped and kept shooting at people's knees or thighs.

The corridor now had turned into a chaos, where the group of people were in full panic mode. Some of them tried to fight back while others struggled to flee. Then, a loud, sudden shotgun fire startled everyone.

It was the leader. She got shot and stumbled. She accidentally fired her shotgun. It hit the ceiling. A huge chunk of the ceiling, together with some rotten floorboard, fell down and crashed into the group.

Tamsin ended the chaos by knocking the last standing person out with the butt of the rifle in her hand.

"Suckas," she murmured as she tossed the rifle to the side.

A gun cocking sound came to her from behind. She turned around and saw Lydia holding a gun with her shaking hands. Tamsin recognized the gun as the one she had given Bo with the dagger.

"Go to hell!" Lydia yelled at Tamsin as she fired the gun. Her arms jolted upwards for the strong knockback, and she practically hit her own face with the gun. The bullet she had fired hit a light bulb and killed it.

"Yeah, that's why you shouldn't play with a Huntess' gun, honey," Tamsin told her with a taunting smirk.

Lydia tried to fire again, but she was shaking so hard that she could no longer pull the trigger. Tamsin rolled her eyes and yanked the gun out of her hand.

"Just go fuck yourself, kid," she told Lydia simply as she tucked the gun into the back of her belt. She went to the leader's side afterwards and got her dagger back too. As she was doing that, a few people struggled to stand up and stop her, but none of them succeeded. They all grunted and groaned in pain while staring at her angrily.

Tamsin gave every one of them a big grin, before she went to get Bo. She carried the brunette over her shoulder and announced, "I'm leaving. Anyone got a problem with that?"

A few furious grunts and frightened grumbles answered her.

"No? Okay, see ya, losers," Tamsin singsonged as she carried Bo out of the basement.

* * *

Bo opened her eyes and stared into the ceiling light blankly. Her body was sore, and her limbs felt numb. Her brain seemed to have stopped functioning due to the overwhelming exhaustion. It took her a long time to realize that she was back at the RV again.

She swallowed hard and turned her head a little. Even a movement so small consumed her instantly. She closed her eyes and panted.

When she opened her eyes again, Tamsin's face entered her vision. The blonde seemed to be leaning over to check on her.

"You owe me one, sweetheart," Tamsin said to her teasingly. "And just an FYI, you are heavy as fuck. I thought someone who's on pure liquid diet would be much lighter…."

Bo gave her a confused nod, since she had no idea what Tamsin was talking about and it hurt her to think. She swallowed hard again. "Can I..." she tried but wasn't able to finish her sentence, instead she had to tell Tamsin what she was asking for by looking at the drink warmer.

Tamsin fetched her a bottle of Vermillion Zero. At first Bo couldn't even hold the bottle properly with her hand. She struggled to take a sip and after a few gulps, her strength came back.

"W-what the hell happened?" She asked Tamsin, confused.

"You tell me," Tamsin sat down in a chair beside the bed. "How the hell did you end up in a fucking dungeon 10 miles away from here?"

"I was in a dungeon?" Bo frowned hard. She tried to sort out all the broken pieces of memories in her head, but she just couldn't. Other than herself blacking out multiple times and that strong, foul smell all over the place, she couldn't remember much.

"Well, last night, I took you to talk to Lydia. At least you remember that, right?"

"Yeah, that I do remember," Bo replied while nodding. "We met her at the town square and she was kinda pissed at us."

"Then, you followed her home, because you wanted to make sure that she got home safe," Tamsin reminded her. She deliberately mimicked Bo's voice when she mentioned that Bo wanted to make sure Lydia got home safe.

"Yeah...I followed her and...she saw me. She wasn't happy about it at all, and she-"

"-spat on your face again?"

"Well...I dodged," Bo shrugged. "Then, some guy showed up."

"Some guy?" Tamsin raised her eyebrows.

Bo pondered hard. Then, she said hesitantly, "no, it was...it was like a group of people…."

"A group of people looking like hobos who doesn't know what a shower is?"

"Yeah, something like that," Bo said, nodding.

"And they knocked you out and hauled your ass into the dungeon because you couldn't handle a bunch of stupid, weak humans?"

"I-" Bo murmured. "Actually...I don't really know what happened. I mean, I was following Lydia. She saw me, and then she yelled at me, telling me to go away. Then, these people came out from nowhere, with guns and stuff. I guess they heard our conversation or something..."

She stopped as she asked for another bottle of warm drink. She pondered for a long time, before she continued, "they yelled something at us, before came at us and grabbed us."

"How could they have grabbed you? They were humans, and you are a Vampire," Tamsin reminded her with eyerolls.

Bo lowered her head, a little embarrassed. "I could have escaped but I was afraid that they'd hurt Lydia, so…I asked them what they wanted, and they said they wanted me to suffer and die. Then, some of them dragged Lydia away and asked her why she was with me at that time of the night, you know, in a very impolite way."

"Mhm. Then?"

"I figured that they were probably those Vampire-big-no-nos, so I thought I'd just tell them that they should let Lydia go because she wasn't with me or anything, but...but Lydia told them that I was stalking her! She said that I was a very bad person and I should die because I feed off people against their will. Can you believe that? I feed off people against their will?"

"You do?" Tamsin raised her eyebrows, her voice mostly teasing.

"No! I don't! I have no idea why she would say those things to them!" Bo exclaimed. "I told them that she was lying but none of them would listen to me. The leader sprayed something into my face before I could get away. Then...I guess they took me somewhere and...you got me out, right?"

Tamsin admitted that with a big eyeroll. Bo gave her an awkward smile and murmured, "thanks for ummm...getting me out. I guess it wasn't pretty in the dungeon, huh?"

"I'd love to see your cute little ass suffer longer, but what can I say? I'm a very nice person, sometimes maybe too nice," Tamsin told her with a fake smile. "You said the leader sprayed something into your face? Like what?"

"I don't know. Chloroform maybe?"

"Right, like chloroform would work for Vamps," Tamsin snorted. "Does that thing smell like unbelievably sweet, like you were in a chocolate shop?"

"Yeah, yeah, exactly," Bo nodded. "How do you know that? What is that?"

"Something that can make you black out," Tamsin explained simply. "As for how I know it..." She gave Bo a smirk while tapping the blood rune in her knife grip.

"Anyway, I guess I was out most of the time...I don't really remember much," Bo said. After a long pause, she frowned and asked, "Are those people like punishing Vampires or something? Who are they anyway? I thought it was illegal to kidnap or imprison Vampires now…."

"Well, laws can't stop morons from doing stupid shit or wanting to be the hero who saves the mankind from those bloody Vampires," Tamsin commented.

"Should we report it to the police?" Bo murmured hesitantly. Then, she gasped and asked, "where is Lydia? Did they have her too? Did you see her when you-"

"She's with them, as she's on their side," Tamsin told her simply. Bo was a bit shocked, but she didn't say anything.

A moment of silence embraced them, as Tamsin wondered what connections it would be between those people and those mysterious Vampire killings. She thought it might be worth investigating, like those people might have joined some anti-Vampire legion or something like that.

Bo, on the other hand, tried to digest all the things that had happened to her. It seemed that she had been captured by a group of Vampire haters, and they tortured her (from the wounds that she saw on her right now) and maybe even tried to kill her. Growing up in a Vampire-friendly town, she found it hard to believe that someone would hate Vampire so much that they'd be willing to torture and kill a random Vampire who had done nothing wrong.

Bo sighed and finished her drink. She felt quite upset about what Lydia had said about her, and what those people had done to her. She shuddered slightly when she wondered what would happen if Tamsin hadn't gotten her out.

Eventually, she noticed Tamsin's piercing stare, and she turned to the blonde with her eyebrows raised.

"I got a question for you," Tamsin started. "And you better answer me honestly."

"Wow, its sounds really serious…" Bo commented with a small frown.

"It is serious," Tamsin told her. "Do you have something to do with the Vampire who killed Lydia's sister? If you do, you need to come clean now, cuz if you are withholding info from me and I find out about it later, you'll be very sorry."

"What? No, I don't have anything to do with the killer. Gee, do I look like I know some psycho Vampire killer?" Bo replied, a little confused and angry. "Everything I know was from those files of yours. I've never even heard of this case before I read those files."

"Then tell me, why were you so concerned about Lydia, hmm? I don't suppose you spent all your nights out there walking every lonely woman home, do you?"

"She has just lost her sister, and she was in pain. I thought I'd just make sure she got home safe. There's nothing weird about it."

"Well, why does her safety matter to you anyway? I didn't see you worry about others in town at night, let alone someone who spat at you repeatedly and told lies to those who wanted to kill you," Tamsin pressured. "She really hates you, and you know that. Why would you care?"

"Hey, I'm a nice person, and I'm smart enough to understand that her hate towards me isn't really that personal. A Vampire killed her sister brutally, and she's just every upset and angry."

"No, that's not it. I think maybe...it's because of guilt," Tamsin said as she watched Bo closely. "Like...you know something about the case and you feel sorry for her."

"No! I've already told you. I don't know anything about the case more than you do," Bo hissed. "And I do feel sorry for her, so? I feel sorry for her because she lost a family. Which part of that do you not understand?"

Tamsin tilted her head a little and raised her eyebrows at Bo, as if she was telling Bo "you tell me".

"I just thought I should help her, okay?" Bo emphasized.

"You and I both know that it's pure bullshit," Tamsin told her coldly. "There's something about that girl that concerns you."

"There is not," Bo hissed. "For the last time, I have nothing to do with your stupid case, or the damn killer."

"Okay, fine, then tell me why you are so concerned about her," Tamsin demanded.

"There is nothing to tell!" Bo protested.

"Ugh huh," Tamsin scoffed.

"Even if there is, I've already told you that I had nothing to do with your case. Whatever reason I have, it's irrelevant and it's none of your business," Bo tried, and then she realized that she had basically admitted that there was a reason.

Tamsin pulled a corner of her lips into a cold smirk. "Whatever. You have until dawn to tell me the truth. You owe me that, cuz if it wasn't for me, that stupid reason you have for caring about Lydia would have costed your life."

With that she stood up and headed to the living room. She got herself a drink and some snacks while wondering what exactly was bugging her, Bo withholding truth from her, or that subtle bitterness in those brown eyes. That bitterness was surprisingly irritating.

She tried to work on her case, but before she had started on anything, Bo's loud, painful groans suddenly broke the silence.

"Oh what now?" Tamsin grunted and headed into the bedroom with a Vermillion Zero in her hand.

She thought that it was probably Bo in need for another bottle, but actually, Bo was struggling for her life in bed. Her eyes were filled with pain, and she bit down on her bottom lip so hard that it was bleeding now. Tears of blood welled up in those brown eyes, as her hands turned into a dead gray color. That color slowly grew and moved up along her arms, turning her pale skin gray inch by inch.

A few broken screams escaped from Bo, and she started gagging hard like there was an invisible force that was suffocating her right now.

She reached her hands out in vain while looking at Tamsin and begging for help silently.

"Shit!" Tamsin cussed as she rushed to the bedside after the initial shock. She grabbed Bo's arms and pinned her down to the bed.

Bo's skin was burning like it was on fire. The dead gray now had almost covered her face. It was as if the essence of her life was dying.

Tamsin turned Bo's arm to take another look at those puncture wounds there. She now realized that those were needle marks.

"Great," she fussed immediately after she had figured out what was happening to Bo.

She hadn't really seen anything like this before, but she must have heard about it a million times when she was still in the guild. She had thought it was just a myth like Vampire repellent herbs, but now she knew it was very real.

She wasn't sure how long Bo had left. She figure that it wouldn't be too long, though. Maybe a few minutes at most. Then, Bo's entire body, including her organs and her flesh, would turn into dead gray. Her skin would flake off and her flesh would crumble, but she wouldn't die because what in her system couldn't kill a Vampire. She would just suffer like a living dead until the last bit of her perished.

The only thing that could save her now was blood. Vermillion Zero wouldn't do it, because it wasn't real blood at all. The regular Vermillion wouldn't do it either. It had to be fresh, real blood.

Tamsin closed her eyes in desperation, before she turned to the kitchen and yelled, "go get me some blood!"

Sugarmuffin made his way out of the cabinet noisily and entered the bedroom. He looked at Tamsin as if he was making sure he had heard her right.

"Go!" Tamsin hissed at him as she pulled out her hunting knife. Sugarmuffin rolled his eyes. Then, he howled and dashed out.

 _Great, just fucking great._ Tamsin thought angrily while wondering why she suddenly had so much fear in her, and why her heart was slamming against her chest so hard.

* * *

 **A/N: next chapter will explain what exactly Bo has and how she is saved, and who knows maybe there's gonna be some Valkubus smut :D**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Bo opened her eyes in daze. Her head was spinning a little, but strangely, instead of feeling uncomfortable, she felt lighthearted.

For a moment she asked herself if she was hallucinating. There seemed to be a lot of incoherent, broken, yet vibrant pieces of memories flying around in her head.

Vaguely, she still remember that excruciating pain she had had just a minute ago. It felt like her skin was being torn off inch by inch, but it was gone now.

Or, was it? She wondered. Was it really gone, or had the pain in fact become too extreme for her to bear so her body started to convince her that there was no such pain? Maybe, it had overwhelmed her and numbed her already?

She thought she had seen her skin turning gray and flaking off, something so terrifying that she had thought it would only exist in horror movies. Was that even real?

She raised her hand and took a look. It seemed normal to her. In fact, it was actually pinker than usual, something that would only occur after she had taken a lot of fresh blood.

Now she started to think maybe all the things she thought she had seen were nothing but another nightmare. Why would they feel so real, though? Was that sharp, blazing pain a nightmare? Were those screams of fear that had burst out from her a part of the nightmare too?

She stared at the ceiling light as she tried to figure things out. Things like, that strange, slight flutter inside her. Had she not known her heart had stopped beating a long time ago, she'd have thought that it would be her heart throbbing nervously for something that was about to happen.

Then, she noticed something else. Her thirst was gone. She thought she had been beyond parched, since she had been kept a prisoner and tortured by some anti-Vampire human group. She had a few bottles of Vermilion Zero after being rescued, sure, but it wasn't something that could really cure her thirst. Normally when she felt like that, the only way to satisfy her thirst was to feed off a group of young, vigorous humans. But, she had no recollection of having done such a thing. Had she done that already but somehow forgotten about it?

Thinking about feeding and blood, she had finally noticed that sweet, rusty smell in the air - it was as if she was too full to actually pay attention to the smell of blood around her at all.

She turned to where the smell had come from, and there she saw several empty blood bags tossed on top of a dark colored, damp towel. The bags still had the tags on them, where the name of the clinic, the blood type and the source of the blood had been clearly stated.

Bo frowned at them and wondered, _where did those come from? Did I grab them from a clinic or something? I never get blood from the clinics...or do I?_

It wasn't uncommon for Vampires to get bags of blood from a hospital or a clinic. As long as the Vampire had a prescription for that, it was completely legal. The bagged blood was to accommodate Vampires who didn't like feeding off humans, who had trouble metabolizing synthesized blood and also who had a hard time preventing themselves from draining the humans they fed off. However, it was never her thing, though. She liked her blood warm and fresh, not cold and bagged. Even if she had to have some of it, she'd have to get a prescription first, which she didn't have, or at least she couldn't remember that she had.

"You awake yet?" Tamsin's voice came to Bo. Even though her voice was impatient and a bit tight, it danced in Bo's ears like soft jazz - another sign of her having too much fresh blood in her system.

"Yeah, I am awake," Bo answered as she sat up in bed. She turned to take a look at Tamsin, but the blonde turned away the moment their eyes met.

Bo got off the bed. She felt recharged and relaxed. Her body was full of energy, and she couldn't stop that pleased, calm feeling from bubbling inside her.

"Was I having nightmare again?" She murmured hesitantly as she carefully checked her skin. There wasn't a single gray spot on her. She wanted to look at herself in the mirror but the mirror attached to the closet door wasn't a Vampire compatible one. She could see everything else in it except herself.

"No," Tamsin replied without looking at her. She bent forward to pick up all the empty blood bags from the floor and threw them into the trash can. Then, she picked up the stained towel and tossed it into the washer.

It was then that Bo noticed that both of Tamsin's hands had blood smudges, like she had spilled blood over them.

"W-what happened?" Bo asked. "I'm umm...I mean, I think I saw my skin turning gray and-"

"You are fine now," Tamsin's told her simply. She patted Bo's back with the back of her hand slightly, telling her to move away from the bedside. Then she peeled off the sheets (which also had blood stains) and threw them into the washer too.

"So it wasn't a nightmare? My skin was actually falling off? What exactly happened to me?" Bo asked. "Am I sick or something?"

Tamsin shrugged, and went to wash her hands. "You've been injected a poison that specifically targets Vampires. Some people call it Black Death," she explained. "It makes your skin turn gray and...well you know the rest."

"Oh," Bo nodded while absentmindedly watching Tamsin wash her hands. Her eyes somehow got glued to the scene where the clean water washed the blood off the blonde's fair skin. The sound of the running water made her feel safe.

She met Tamsin's light eyes, and she suddenly realized that she was staring. She cleared her throat and grabbed herself a bottle of Vermilion Zero even though she wasn't thirsty at all.

She took another glance at all the empty blood bags in the trash can, before she asked, "did I drink those?"

"Well, only one of us is a Vamp and it certainly ain't me," Tamsin replied as she tilted her head slightly to give Bo a smirk.

"How...like why did you..." Bo murmured. She failed to ask her question properly since she got too many of them right now.

"The only thing that can cure the poison in your system is real blood, so..." Tamsin explained to her.

"Where did you get all the..." Bo trailed off when she noticed a long, fresh cut on the side of Tamsin's hand. As she saw that, suddenly the only thing she could smell was that very faint, almost non-existing scent of Tamsin's blood in the air. It was a strange, unique smell, both hot and cold, both bitter and sweet.

All of a sudden, that smell triggered a piece of her vague memories, where she guzzled down something extremely warm and sweet. She remembered herself desperately swallowing that down, like her whole life was depending on it.

She remembered that taste, or rather, her body remembered it. As she thought about it, it lingered in her mouth. It was unusually sweet and spicy, with a bitter kick that somehow made it irresistible and full of life. It tasted as soft as the early spring sun, but at the same time, cold and fierce like the stormy ocean in winter.

She suddenly figured out what had happened. Tamsin must have given her some of her blood to save her from the poison, because there had been no fresh blood in or anywhere near the RV. Then she somehow managed to fetch all those bagged blood and let her drink all of it. Now, everything finally made sense to her.

For a moment, Bo couldn't move her eyes away from that fresh cut. It wasn't her thirst or anything like that at all. It wasn't just gratitude either. It was that slight flutter inside her. She suddenly couldn't breathe.

She thought she should thank Tamsin for giving her her own blood. Although, for some reason too strange for her to fathom, she didn't want to break this moment of peace by mentioning it at all. She feared that once she spoke of it, it would make things awkward immediately.

"So...you got those bags of blood from a clinic in town or something?" Bo asked. "Like...where did you get the prescription?"

"I didn't. Sugarmuffin brought them back," Tamsin told her and the dog sneezed loudly in the living room.

"Oh...how did he..." Bo frowned.

"Does it matter?" Tamsin raised her eyebrows at Bo and shrugged. "You are alive. The poison's gone. Yay!"

Bo rolled her eyes at Tamsin's sarcastic tone. "I guess I should thank him for that then."

Sugarmuffin pushed a strange noise through his nose which sounded like a scoff. He gave Bo a nonchalant glance, before he pushed the RV door open with his front paw and took off.

Bo sat down beside the dining table. She turned the cap of her drink bottle unconsciously while pondering. Then, she asked, "the poison….you said it targets Vampire?"

Tamsin sighed while starting the washing cycle. "It's just something from some black market lab or something, I guess. You know the time when humans really don't like Vamps and some Vamps treated humans like shit...A lot of people were trying to find a way to exterminate blood suckers like you, and I guess one of them synthesized the Black Death."

"So...it's lethal to Vampires? It would kill me if-"

"No, it won't," Tamsin corrected her, "but you'd wish it would when it has fully kicked in."

"What does it do then? I mean, other than make my skin fall off me."

"Well, after your skin turns gray and falls off, your flesh and your organs would too, but it would leave your bones and some other stuff intacted, so...I mean, you are practically dead, so you can't die again from it, but I heard that it would make you a walking dead in great pain, like...you can still feel everything and the pain, but you can't do anything about it. You'd beg for someone to end your life."

"Whoa...that sounds...terrible," Bo murmured.

Tamsin pulled her lips into a grin. "You should really thank me, you know. If it wasn't for me, you'd officially become the fugliest Vamp ever. Even a Ghoul would look hot as hell comparing to you. And did I mention the pain you'd feel every minute of every day?"

Bo licked her lips as she looked into those light eyes. "Umm...thanks for saving my life. And this poison...is it a common thing? I mean, I've never heard of it before."

"That's cuz many people never believed that it's an actual thing. The rumor of it had been around for a long time, but the Guild launched an investigation once and found nothing, so they concluded that it was a stupid myth," Tamsin replied. Then, she leaned in and grinned. "Don't worry, morons like you usually are very, very hard to kill."

She chuckled when she saw Bo rolling her eyes at her. "You want to thank me, you buy me a drink and a lap dance."

"Oh...okay," Bo nodded. "Let me freshen up a little bit and then we can go have some fun."

* * *

Bo thought she'd party all night long celebrating that she was still alive. Tamsin thought she'd flirt around, play some bar games and get lots of drinks after sitting in the RV with Bo for almost a day. However, they couldn't focus on the things they usually liked to do, and they ended up returning to the RV several hours before sunrise.

Tamsin figured that she'd get some rest, but with the night wind warming up and the smell of the early blooming flowers all over the air, she felt a little restless.

She eventually got herself a can of beer and went to sit down on the doorsteps of her RV. She sipped her drink while unconsciously gazing at the edge of the night sky.

Bo came out from the RV too, with a bottle of drink in her hand. She hesitantly sat down beside Tamsin while keeping a reasonable distance between them. After being quiet for a long time, she eventually broke the silence.

"So...will we stay here a little longer for your case, or what?" She asked.

Tamsin shook her head. "There's nowhere to go with the damn case. Even if that Lydia bitch knows something, she'd go to those Vamp hating hobos before us," she murmured. She immediately realized that she made it sound like Bo and her were working on the case together, but it was too late to change it now.

"Are we leaving tonight then?" Bo asked.

Tamsin shook her head again. "I'm gonna stay here for one more day. Need to check out that dungeon they kept you in, cuz you know...last time I was there, I was too busy dragging your fat ass out to investigate the entire place."

"You-you are going back there?" Bo asked, a little surprised. She didn't remember much when she had been inside the dungeon, since she was out for most of the time. However, she did remember that the coldness that chilled her to the bones.

"Relaaaax, sweetheart," Tamsin drawled. "I'm sure they are all gone by now, so if we call the cops they wouldn't get their asses arrested and thrown in jail."

"Then why are you going back in there?" Bo frowned. "You think someone else's down there?"

"Do I look like I care if anyone else is down there? And, why do you think I have to tell you everything, hmm?" Tamsin taunted.

Bo gave her a big eyeroll and stopped talking. She stared at the stars that were hanging low on the edge of the sky for a long time while thinking about the things that had happened to her in the past couple of days. It still felt like a dream to her, because it was really hard for her to believe that someone would target her simply because she was a Vampire. Then, she thought about Lydia. She thought about how Lydia lied to those people just to get her into trouble. She eventually couldn't help but blurt, "how could she do that?"

"Huh?" Tamsin frowned at her. "How could who do what?"

"Lydia," Bo said. "How could she just lie to those people like that? She could have gotten me killed."

"Ummm, I think getting you killed was pretty much what she wanted," Tamsin reminded.

"I know, I mean...I just don't-I just don't get it. She lost her sister, and she was upset. Okay, I get that, but framing me like that? That's just...unbelievable," Bo complained. "I had nothing to do with her sister's death."

"Bitch doesn't care," Tamsin told her. "She just wants her pound of flesh, doesn't matter to her where or from whom she gets it."

Bo huffed out a bitter sneer and shook her head. "And those...those who captured me. What they just run around imprisoning and slaying Vampires randomly?"

"Pretty much, yep," Tamsin nodded.

"Why?" Bo asked.

"Isn't that obvious?" Tamsin scoffed. "They do that because they hate you and want you dead."

"I get that, I mean...I just don't understand how they could hate someone whom they don't even know."

"They know you are a Vamp," Tamsin shrugged. "That's enough for them."

She took a glance at Bo, and noticed that bitterness in those brown eyes that the brunette was trying to hide. She let out a soft, almost drunken scoff. "You've never been to a place like this before, huh?"

"A place like what?" Bo asked as she looked at the blonde. She noticed that subtle smile on the corner of Tamsin's lips. Then, she met those light eyes. Suddenly, she found the moonlight dancing in them beyond distracting.

"A town where half of the people hates Vamps to guts?"

"Oh..." Bo murmured and shook her head. "No...no, not really. I was born and raised in-"

She paused a little as her voice went a little shaky. She saw that little frown on Tamsin's face, and she quickly resumed, "I was born and raised in that town where I...where you and I met. It is not exactly the most Vampire friendly place but it is definitely not like this."

"You better get ready then. As we go near Somerset, it's gonna get a lot worse," Tamsin warned her. "Somerset and the surrounding area is a no-go zone for Vamps for a reason, so...I'm gonna ask you again, are you sure the Vamp Queen is buried there?"

Bo nodded firmly. "Trust me. She's buried there."

Tamsin nodded along while downing the last bit of her beer. "You better watch out, cuz I really don't want to spend an entire day dragging your ass out of some dungeon every time you get trapped in one."

Bo snorted. She sipped her Vermilion Zero in silence for a long time. For the first time in her life as a Vampire, she had finally realized that there were people out there who hated her so much that they wanted her dead even if she had committed no crime. She had always heard stories like that before, but those were just stories. She still remembered the actual hatred in Lydia's eyes. That amount of hatred, it was real, and it scared her.

She took a deep breath, and murmured, "I guess I'll always be a monster to them, huh?"

It was something embarrassing to say. She thought she shouldn't have said it out loud. It sounded too vulnerable and weak, but she felt great for letting it out.

Tamsin clenched her lips a little as she turned to look at the reflection of the moon in Bo's browns eyes. Something in those eyes hurt her a little.

"We are all monsters, Bo," she blurted, giving in to that subtle, dull pain.

She had no idea why she had said that. She heard her own voice, and it was too soft for her liking. She wasn't even sure if it was meant to comfort Bo, or herself. She just couldn't say anything else, when her mind was completely drawn to that soft, cold reflection of the moon and

those blue flickers behind it.

Bo licked her lips as she held Tamsin's gaze. "Yeah...I guess we are..." she muttered in a whisper, her eyes slowly slipping down from Tamsin's shimmering eyes to her lips. Mesmerized, she leaned in.

Scared and startled by what she was doing, she was ready to pull back, but before she did, Tamsin's lips touched hers.

Both of them were hesitant and nervous as hell at first. They were beyond careful and awkward, but the nightwind was too warm, the kiss was too sweet and they revelled in it too fast. Before they knew it, they were stumbling back into the RV while ripping each other's clothes off.

The kiss had turned messy and aggressive now, with teeth and tongue, with biting, sucking and tugging.

As the tip of Tamsin's tongue softly brushed against Bo's fang, Bo moaned and shoved the blonde to the wall. She pressed her body tightly against Tamsin's as she took the bottom lip of Tamsin's and pulled it playfully. She sucked it softly afterwards, like she was telling Tamsin how she'd suck every inch of her body including her pussy later.

She heard a light scoff, and then she was spun around forcefully and slammed against the wall.

Tamsin pinned her hands to the wall and wedged her thigh between her legs. She gave Bo a taunting grin, as if she found Bo trying to take lead in the game amusing.

She leaned in, and enjoyed the eagerness on Bo's face as she waited for the kiss. She ghosted her lips on Bo's while letting her hands freely wander up and down along Bo's body under her blouse.

As she pushed against Bo's breasts, she noticed how thin and soft the fabric of Bo's bra was, and how hard those nipples had already become. As she fantasized how loud Bo would be when she took those hardened buds into her mouth and suck them hard, she practically tore the blouse off Bo.

"Hey..." Bo complained weakly between moans as she watched a couple of buttons from her blouse fly to the other side of the room. _Well those are decorative anyway_...she thought as her blouse got tossed into the floor.

Soon, the only thing on her mind was those hot, wet lips moving down slowly along the side of her neck. Tamsin's breath made her tremble.

Bo arched away from the wall and moaned loudly when Tamsin forced her fingers into her pants without taking them off.

"God you are wet..." Tamsin breathed those words into Bo's ear as she slid her fingers between Bo's soft folds. She moved her fingers along the warm slit as she teased the excited clit with the tip of her middle finger. Every time Bo arched towards her asking for more, she moved her finger away from her clit.

Bo was about to protest the hottest torture, but when Tamsin suddenly slammed those fingers into her hard, a soft cry burst out from her.

For a moment, Bo didn't know what she should focus on right now. The soft tongue swirling around her earlobe, the fingers that were pinching her nipple, or the strong thrusts inside her. As her moans got louder and louder, she suddenly became aware of the fact that Tamsin was a Huntress, someone who was supposed to hunt her. It somehow turned her on like crazy.

She came embarrassingly fast. With her face buried into the blonde's shoulder, she bit back her screams as she dug her fingernails into Tamsin's skin.

She didn't realize that she made a few long scratches there until she smelled Tamsin's blood.

That smell instantly got her fangs out. The mere thought of running the tip of tongue over those scratches made her come again. She clenched hard around Tamsin's fingers, unable to stop herself from wondering if she'd have the chance to taste it while orgasming.

That idea gave her too much pleasure, too much for her to bear. The aching desire rolled inside her. It was too strong, and it made her tremble hard.

That bittersweet smell. The vague memory of its taste. The thought of tasting it again and let it linger on her tongue. It almost made her cry. She had to use every bit of strength that she had to stop herself from violently sinking her teeth into Tamsin's flesh.

"Who says you could scratch me, you naughty, naughty little Vampire," Tamsin's teasing whisper came to her. She was still fondling her pussy with an agonizingly slow and light motion.

"I-" Bo choked as she closed her eyes. She couldn't bear the view of a drop of blood seeping out slowly from the longest, deepest scratch on Tamsin's shoulder.

Tamsin chuckled as she teased Bo's throbbing entrance. "Don't get any dirty ideas, sweetheart..." she whispered to Bo before she feathered the contour of Bo's ear with the tip of her tongue. "You know, dirty ideas like...having a little bit of my blood while you are cumming all over my hand or something..."

A soft whimper left Bo. "Don't-" she hissed incoherently as she threw her head back.

"Don't what?" Tamsin asked as she rubbed Bo's lips with her thumb. She watched Bo taking her thumb into her mouth and start to suck it softly. She could feel that soft tongue of Bo's swirling around the tip of her thumb. She was fully aware that Bo was having a very hard time keeping her eyes off those eagerness was written all over her face. She was practically begging her silently with her foggy eyes.

Tamsin slowly circled her fingertip around Bo's clit as she looked into Bo's eyes. Among the bright, blue flickers and the deep, deep lust, there was a certain vulnerability. It pulled her in, in, in.

"You want it that bad, huh?" She asked softly.

Bo immediately nodded. She wanted it so bad that her desires pained her.

"Then beg me," Tamsin demanded as she nibbled Bo's earlobe. "Beg me, and I'll let you have as much as you want."

It was a dangerous promise, and she knew it better than anyone else. In fact, a part of her couldn't believe that she had just let that slip out.

She had never let a Vampire feed off her directly, not during sex, not during anything. She was fully aware of the risk, but right now it was a risk she was more than willing to take.

She wanted to see Bo lose control. She wanted to see how much Bo would enjoy her blood and those orgasms she gave her. She wanted to hear her screams and her loud moans. She wanted to see the blue glow of ecstasy in those brown eyes. And more importantly, she wanted to see that vulnerable look go away.

Bo looked back at her, a little startled, as if she couldn't believe that Tasmin would allow her do that. Then, her eyes moved down to those scratches again, and the word "please" escaped her lips between her short, heavy gasps.

Tamsin gave her an evil smile as she thrust into Bo again. Bo, on the other hand, took a much more hesitant approach. She slowly buried her face under Tamsin's chin and nuzzled the side of her neck with the tip of her nose. Then, she pressed her lips on Tamsin's warm skin and feathered her skin with them.

As Tamsin curled her fingers inside her, the strong pleasure came from her sweet spot in waves. Bo could no longer contain herself. She sank her fangs firmly into Tamsin's skin.

She tasted that warm blood again. That taste exploded inside her. It was far better than she had remembered. The entire world started spinning in bright colors and sweet sounds.

She came in tears and shivers while licking Tamsin's blood off her lips.

Tamsin pulled her fingers out from her. She pulled Bo's pants down forcefully and took them off. Then, she got down and grabbed Bo's hips.

Knowing exactly what Tamsin was about to do, Bo gasped hard. The thought of Tamsin's tongue running on her already swollen clit gave her so much pleasure that she couldn't stop her legs from shaking hard.

The blonde gave her a taunting grin, before she pulled her closer and gave her a long, hard lick along her folds.

"Oh God..." Bo whimpered as she desperately tried to hold herself still. It was already a sensation strong enough to make her tremble, and now with her hypersense it felt almost painful. She knew she was soaking wet already, and with Tamsin's hot gaze on her pussy, she thought she'd come any seconds now.

"More..." she begged while rocking her hips along with the movement of Tamsin's tongue. "More…."

Tamsin answered her request by sucking and pulling her folds. She pressed the tip of her tongue on Bo's clit and watched the brunette close her eyes in loud moans. As she started to flick her tongue on the throbbing pearl, Bo's moans got louder and louder.

When Tamsin started to suck her clit softly, Bo screamed. She had fed off people during sex before, but never a Huntress, never like this. The sex itself with Tamsin was hot enough, with her blood in her system it was beyond overwhelming. She couldn't remember if her hypersense was ever this strong. And strangely, it didn't hurt her. It made her feel like she was floating in the clouds like a feather, being tossed up and down gently by the rolling pleasure inside her.

She came in heavy throbs and hard clenches. Her lower abdomen started to hurt for having too many orgasms. She could still feel Tamsin's tongue feathering her folds, and she wasn't sure if she should beg her to stop, or not to stop.

She stayed there with her back tightly pressed against the wall, her eyes closed and her hands fisted hard. She let everything settle slowly. She let the energy brought by Tamsin's blood run through her veins while sighing softly.

Eventually she recovered from her orgasm, and she could breathe again. She saw Tamsin's cocky smile, and her juice covered lips. She couldn't help but ask, "when's my turn?"

"I thought you already had your turn," Tamsin replied as she brushed her fingers over the bite marks Bo had left on her neck. A part of her still couldn't believe that she had let a Vampire take her blood like this, but seeing that pure pleasure in Bo's eyes was totally worthy it.

Bo moaned softly as she pressed the back of her index finger against the bite mark. She caressed it gently, circling her fingertip around it. She found it extremely pleasing and exciting, that Tamsin shivered the moment she touched that wound. She suddenly wondered if the blonde had enjoyed fucking her while being fed off by her like she had.

"Well..." she whispered as she slowly unbuttoned Tamsin's pants and pulled it off. "Maybe we could go take a shower, and I'll show you what _my turn_ is like…."

* * *

 **A/N: I think a guest review asked for a military AU story? I think it would be really hot for Tamsin to be in a military uniform, but I have 0 experience with military and I don't think I'd do that AU justice. Plus I have too much on my plate right now already, and I'm still trying to find some time to update Trivial Days. So...maybe someone else could write that AU for Valkubus?**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

A soft moan escaped from Bo as she opened her eyes lazily. For a moment, she just stayed there while staring at the ceiling. The late afternoon sunlight leaked through the blinds, painting everything with a warm hue.

With her face half buried in her cozy sleeping bag, Bo let that peaceful feeling bubble quietly inside her.

The ambient sounds danced in her ear, so softly and so gently, which surprised her a little. She was expecting her hypersense to be gone by now, but it seemed that it was still lingering.

Just like that bittersweet taste lingering on her tongue. It was something she had never experienced before. There was so much in it that she just couldn't get enough. Strangely, instead of making her thirsty or turned on, the lingering taste made her feel safe and sound.

As her mind slipped to what had happened last night, her entire body seemed to start burning. _Whoa...did I really fuck a Huntress and feed off her?_ She asked herself in daze while blinking.

She had never thought she'd have sex with a Huntress. She had known a few before, but most of the time she had been trying to get away from them instead of flirting with them. She had absolutely no idea that sex with a Huntress would be this aggressive in a very hot, lustful way.

Her mind slipped to those vivid details immediately. Tamsin slamming her to the wall in the shower...those painfully amazing orgasms she had given her...finally her turn...she went down on the blonde...she ran her tongue on her soaking wet pussy over and over...Tamsin throbbing against her...Tamsin's strong pulse under the tips of her fingers...her warm blood on her lips….

 _God I really need to stop thinking about it_ , Bo groaned as she got out of her sleeping bag. She freshened herself up a little, before she went to the living room.

There, she saw Tamsin sitting at the table working on her laptop. She had a big cup filled with hot coffee and a box of fresh donuts with her. Too concentrated, she didn't bother to greet Bo or even raise her head to take a look at her.

Bo's eyes quickly wandered to the side of Tamsin's neck. She could barely see the bite marks she had left there last night, but they were there, and now they seemed to be the sweetness invitation in the entire world.

Bo cleared her throat slightly as she told herself not to focus on the taste of Tamsin's blood or anything related to the sex last night. She got herself a bottle of Vermilion Zero and sat down at the table.

She grabbed a donut from the box, a chocolate covered one with colorful sprinkles on it. After taking a bite, she let out a satisfied sigh.

"Hey!" Tamsin hissed as she gave Bo a cold glare. "You are a Vamp. You don't need food, so stop stealing my."

"Well, too late," Bo taunted in a slur while inhaling her donut. "It's gone."

Tamsin shot Bo another cold glare and downed her coffee in gulps like she was afraid that Bo would steal that too. She continued working for about half an hour, before she closed her laptop and went to put the dirty cup in the sink.

She seemed to have finally noticed Bo's wandering eyes. Pulling her lips into a big smirk, she teased, "can't have enough of it, huh?"

"W-what?" Bo murmured absentmindedly. Distracted by the warm glow of the sunlight that outlined the contour of Tamsin's face and those faint golden sparkles in her light eyes. She couldn't help but wonder how Tamsin could look so alive and vigorous if she really had fed off her the way she remembered. How could she not be pale or weak?

She wasn't even aware that she was staring at the bite marks again, until she heard Tamsin's chuckles. She forced herself to turn her eyes away while taking a gulp from her Vermilion bottle, but her favorite drink suddenly became so bland and boring for her.

"Well...if you really want it, all you have to do is..." Tamsin said to Bo as she leaned in.

"...is what?" Bo blurted. With the blonde so close, she could practically see the strong pulse underneath her skin. That bittersweet taste started to roll inside her, giving her a wave of flutters, like she had a cluster of flames inside her burning nervously.

"If you really want it, all you have to do is ask," Tamsin breathed those words into Bo's ears, and chuckled again when she felt the slight shivers from Bo. For some reason, she found teasing Bo like this extremely amusing, and of course a small part of her was aching for something too.

Bo closed her eyes and swallowed hard. She wanted to tell Tamsin that she didn't want it at all, but who was she kidding really?

She thought she should at least say something, but with her entire body shivering in dire desires, she could barely talk. The thought of having a mouthful of that fresh, warm blood turned her on so much that her knees started to tremble.

"Well, I am gonna...just..." she muttered as she stumbled back. She wasn't sure from what she was trying to get away, that very faint smell of blood, Tamsin's teasing whispers, or that soft scent of hers.

"So, are you gonna ask for it, or do you need a few minutes to prepare yourself?" Tamsin asked as she raised her left hand and brushed the corner of Bo's lips with the back of her index finger.

Bo groaned, both in frustration and excitement. She forced herself not to give in, because she feared that once she asked for it Tamsin would mock her. She also feared that if Tamsin would actually allow her, she'd no longer be able to hold her thirst back.

Before she made a decision of what she should do, the door to the RV was slammed open and someone stormed in.

Startled, both women turned to the intruder (and Tamsin pulled a loaded gun out of the weapon chest) - a woman in her early 20s with lush, long ringlets and a skin so tanned that it gave her a golden glow.

She was grinning at both of them. Her teeth were practically sparkling, and her eyes...it had such a deep, passionate green. She looked so vivacious and bright with waves of heat radiating from her.

"Long time no see, sister," she greeted Tamsin with a silvery voice. She raised her hands playfully while staring at Tamsin's gun.

"Yeah, with all those years passed, I thought you'd at least have learned the concept of _knocking_ ," Tamsin drawled loudly as she put her loaded gun away.

"The door wasn't locked or anything," the woman shrugged innocently. She scanned the living room, before she let those curious greens wander up and down along Bo's body.

"Wow, didn't know you were traveling with a..." she trailed off when she registered Bo's fangs, those excited blue flickers in her eyes, and the fact that those two were dangerously close to each other.

"Whoa...did I interrupt something? I...I mean, I could totally wait outside and give you two enough time so you could finish whatever..." she mumbled as she turned around. She was about to leave, but Tamsin stopped her.

"You are not interrupting anything, bitch. There's nothing going on," Tamsin announced as she stepped away from Bo.

"Yeah, of course, whatever you say so," the woman murmured in a low voice as she made a quick, small frown at those faint bite marks on the side of Tamsin's neck. She eventually decided not to say a word about it.

She threw herself into the bench seat and asked, "hey, _Valkyrie_ , you got any cold beer?"

Tamsin rolled her eyes and let out a heavy sigh. She got a can of beer out of the fridge and tossed it at the woman. "Bring your own beer next time, _Athena_."

The woman shrugged lazily before she downed the beer in seconds. Then, she leaned back and curled her pinky finger between her lips. She made a loud whistle, and a few minutes later, a bird came in through the door and swiftly landed on her shoulder.

It was an owl with bright, light yellow eyes and brown plumage streaked and spotted with white. When the bird saw Bo, it moved on the woman's shoulder restlessly with a series of angry hoots.

"Easy, Iona," the woman cooed while rubbing the bird's beak gently with the side of her index finger. "You remember Tamsin, don't you…? And I'm sure the Vampire cutie over there is Tamsin's…."

She paused and moved her eyes back and forth between Tamsin and Bo. After getting a cold look from Tamsin, she eventually said, "...friend."

The owl's hoot softened but she still stared at Bo with those sharp eyes like Bo was guilty of something. After giving Bo a warning glare, she took off and left the RV.

The woman stood up and approached Bo. "I guess I'll introduce myself first?" She suggested in a soft smile. As she leaned in, Bo could practically smell the sunlight on her skin.

"I'm Alexa," the woman introduced as she looked into Bo's eyes.

"Oh, I thought you were Athena," Bo murmured.

The woman let out a few soft chuckles. "No, Athena is the code name I used when I was still with the Guild, just like Valkyrie is the co-"

She was interrupted by Tamsin's loud, protesting cough, so instead she asked Bo, "and your name is…?"

"Bo," Bo replied cautiously after she realized that the woman, Alexa, was a Huntress too. She gave the woman a polite smile as she looked at the short sword Alexa was carrying. There was a blood rune embedded in the hilt, in which an owl pattern was engraved.

"Bo? Okay..." Alexa repeated her name and made sounded like a soft kiss. "You are just travelling with Tamsin? You are not her prisoner, right?"

"Prisoner or not, it's none of your business, and she's not allowed to talk to strangers," Tamsin interrupted their conversation again. "Why are you here?"

"Well...I saw your dog outside pooping and I thought I'd just drop by and say hi," Alexa shrugged.

"Drop by and say hi my ass," Tamsin rolled her eyes. "Seriously, why are you here?"

"Working on a case," Alexa admitted casually as she took a glance at all the documents scattered on the table. "Just like you?"

Tamsin rolled her eyes again. "Not interested. You want to say hi, you've already said it. Now if you could get your ass outta my RV…."

"Hey, don't be such a bitch," Alexa complained softly. "I-"

She stopped talking as she raised her eyes and looked at Bo.

Tamsin turned to Bo and ordered, "you, get lost."

"Wasn't planning on staying anyway," Bo snorted as she headed to the door.

"Ummm...sweetie, it's not dark outside yet," Alexa reminded her but it was too late. Bo groaned as the sunlight touched her skin. It was not strong enough to burn her, but it still felt hot. She rolled her eyes at the two chuckling women, before she went into the bedroom and locked the door behind her.

"Slia kaliv aes (she's cute)," Alexa commented.

"Slia silamaev aes (she's stupid)," Tamsin scoffed. "Why are you here, hmmm?"

"Like I told you, I'm working on a case," Alexa replied.

"If you are working on that serial killer Vampire case where a bunch of human chicks were murdered, you are out of luck, cuz I'm gonna solve it and the reward will all be mine," Tamsin taunted with a smirk as she sat down on the other side of the table.

"Huh," Alexa hummed. "So I guess we are working on the same case?"

"Nope, I am working on the case, and you are not," Tamsin warned her. "There are plenty of cases out there, just pick something that I don't want to bother."

"Ummm, Tamsin, I'm glad that you are still you, but I don't need the cash," Alexa laughed. "Technically I am not _working_ on this case either, not for the Vamp affairs division anyway. I'm just searching for the killer's whereabouts for a client in exchange of some info I need. I heard the latest victim is from this town so-"

"Don't bother. There's nothing here for you to find," Tamsin interrupted her. "The eye witnesses? They don't know shit and you'll want to punch them in the face after talking to them."

Alexa sighed and threw her hands into the air. "Great."

"But, maybe there's something that I know but you don't," Tamsin said as she leaned in and rested her chin on her hand.

"Like what?"

"If you tell me your secrets, I'll tell you mine," Tamsin shrugged.

"Hmmm…" Alexa crossed her arms in front of her chest. "If you took this case from the Vampire related crime division, my guess is that I know all your secrets but you don't know mine. So...if you want the things that I know about this case, you'll have to make a better offer."

"In that case, I got something way more interesting than a psycho serial killer," Tamsin said.

"Care to share?"

"Two words for you, Black. Death," Tamsin said it in a voice so low that Alexa could barely hear her.

"Black...Death, as in the rumors?"

"Not rumors. That shit is real," Tamsin told her.

"And you know this how?" Alexa asked as she narrowed her eyes at Tamsin.

"Let's just say that I run a bunch of Vamp-hating hobos who seemed to have kidnapped and tortured quite a few Vamps in their dungeon. They have that."

"Wow, really? Did you get a sample?" Alexa beamed.

Tamsin rolled her eyes and tilted her head towards the bedroom door. "I could have, but instead I was too busy dragging her fat ass out of the dungeon to grab one," she drawled loudly.

"She got captured or something?" Alexa raised her eyebrows.

"Yep, she got captured. Slia silamaev fha'liyel aes (she's that stupid)."

Alexa shook her head. "I guess I could check out the dungeon too while I am here."

"And I'll tell you where it is after you give me a copy of whatever you have on the serial killer case," Tamsin offered.

"Deal," Alexa nodded after a brief ponder, "so when are we leaving?"

"I would say now, if you can get your ass off the seat and get going."

"What about your-" Alexa pointed at the bedroom.

"Do I look like I care?" Tamsin rolled her eyes. She put her hunting knife back into its sheath, before she yelled to Bo, "hey we are leaving. If you are gonna go have fun later, lock the door behind you. And please, stay away from whoever that wants you dead cuz I'm not gonna waste my time rescuing you again."

Bo opened the door and came out. "Where are you going?"

"A place called none of your business?" Tamsin replied.

"Are you two going to that dungeon?" Bo asked. Although Tamsin and Alexa kept their voice low, she still grasped a few words with "dungeon" being one of them.

"Are you eavesdropping?" Tamsin hissed.

"I can't not hear you loud voice, okay?" Bo retorted. "If you are going to the dungeon, I'm going too."

"I'm gonna say no to that, but since you'll follow us with or without my permission so...why don't you just stay far, far away from me while I pretend that you are not there, hmm?" Tamsin smirked.

Bo gave her a cold stare, before she went to put on a heavy cloak. The cloak had a deep blue color like the color of the night sky. The old gold clasps gave it an elegant look, and the blue rim of the hood matched the blue flickers in Bo's eyes perfectly.

"Are you sure you are coming with us, sweetie?" Alexa asked her. "It's still gonna be a while before sunset."

"I'll be fine if I'm in a car," Bo said as she pulled her hood down a little. "The sun's almost down anyway."

"Or, how about we just wait for the nightfall?" Tamsin suggested.

"Why? Because you are worried that the sun might hurt me?" Bo drawled.

"No, I just don't want you to ruin my car in case you burst into flames under the sun," Tamsin replied coldly.

* * *

The dusk slowly shrouded everything, and the three of them drove to the dungeon.

Just as Tamsin suspected, the group was no longer there. It looked like those people left in a hurry and left a lot of personal belongings behind.

Tamsin and Alexa briefly checked the prison cells, before they went to the other section of the dungeon that looked like the living area. It wasn't too different from the cell area anyway. There were small rooms with crude furniture in them, and they all smelled. The only difference was that there were no dead bodies in those rooms.

Tamsin and Alexa had a short discussion in the language that Bo didn't understand, before they started to take pictures of the place. They also bagged some items they found there, including small pieces of hair clusters and abandoned vials

Bo stood there watching them work for a while. After getting a lot of curious glances from Alexa and a tons of eyerolls from Tamsin, she decided to wander away from them.

She walked into the cell area again. Her heart sank again as she saw the body parts and remains left in those small, dark cells. The dangling light bulb above her flickered frequently. Every time when it was out, she felt like she was in hell and she was alone.

She shuddered in fear as she slowly came to the conclusion that if Tamsin hadn't gotten her out, she'd have ended up being one of them. Or maybe, even worse, because of that Black Death drug thing.

She found the cell that she had been held in. It was just as filthy and dark, with old blood stains all over the place. In the corner she found a few pieces of bones, darkened and chipped. She couldn't bring herself to ask the questions like whom they had belonged to or what had happened to thom.

As the smell of death thickened around her, those memories that had haunted her suddenly came back to her again.

She could practically smell the summer storm outside the windows now, hinting her that her life was about to be tossed into the unknown darkness.

"Hey, we are leaving!" Tamsin's impatient voice came to her, "but if you want to stay, you are more than welcome to."

Bo rolled her eyes and walked out. For some reason, Tamsin's voice seemed to have suddenly become the only thing reminding her that she wasn't in hell.

* * *

After they returned to the RV, Alexa exchanged info with Tamsin. They had some casual conversation and discussion afterwards. Then, Alexa gave Bo a flirty wink and left with her owl.

Tamsin organized the things she had gathered, before she told Bo, "finally we are leaving this shithole today, and you are gonna be driving while I go get some sleep."

Bo nodded quietly as she watched Tamsin heading to the bedroom. Before Tamsin went in, though, Bo stopped her.

"What?" Tamsin frowned, feeling a little confused when noticing the heavy hesitation in Bo's eyes.

"I ummm...you asked me why I cared about Lydia," Bo started. "It wasn't because I knew the killer or anything like that. It's...it's because I was once her."

Tamsin narrowed her eyes a little. She suddenly found it difficult for her to breathe as the painful look flooded Bo's eyes. "Huh?"

"I was just like her, a long time ago," Bo explained. "When I was 10, someone-I mean, a Vampire killed all my family one night and turned me.

It was all she could say. She couldn't bring herself to describe any details of that night. Deep down inside her, a small part of her was still in denial maybe, and all the blood and deaths, it was just too heavy for her right now.

Tamsin could barely nod. The bitterness and agony in Bo's voice almost crushed her. For a brief moment, that strong, dull pain in her chest slammed against her chest and squeeze the air out of her lungs.

She took a deep breath and turned her eyes away from Bo's. "Well, as long as you don't have anything to do with the stupid case, it's fine with me. Now get your ass into the driver seat and drive."

Bo nodded. After Tamsin went into the bedroom and closed the door behind her, it was her alone again. She felt heavy, and she was shaking a little, but strangely, at the same time, she felt somewhat relieved.

* * *

 **A/N: so here I've introduced another Huntress, Alexa, who seemed to have known Tamsin for a long time. She won't be showing up too often but she's an important character in terms of the big plot and things related to the Huntress Guild. Here, she mentioned to Bo that when they were in the Guild, they all had code names. In the next few chapters, Tamsin (probably) is going to tell Bo more about the Guild, the code names and how the Huntresses are all doing now since the Guild is gone.**

 **Also, I'll introduce some back stories about Sugarmuffin (how he met Tamsin and stuff like that) soon, which is closely related to what had happened to Tamsin while she was in and out of the Guild. The flashbacks of Tamsin's old life is probably going to be scattered and presented non-sequentially. If anyone feel it's too confusing, let me know.**

 **And as I am writing the story, I feel that I may need to actually make the Huntress language/argot less random and more like a real thing, so later I will probably have either Tamsin or Alex explain some simple stuff to Bo.**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Tamsin got up shortly before sunrise. She microwaved some frozen pancakes for herself, and made some coffee. Bo, taking a break from driving for the past five hours, went back to the living room to get herself some warm Vermillion.

Their eyes met and then both quickly turned away. They quietly ate their breakfast at the table, where Tamsin checked her emails and messages while Bo decided to read a couple of pages of the serial killer Vampires case file because there was nothing else for her to read.

Right before the first rays of the sun tore the darkness open, Sugarmuffin came back from hunting Ghouls. His fur seemed much messier and more tousled than Bo had remembered. Other than the usual musky odor of a dog, he smelled like Ghouls.

He snorted loudly at Tamsin' coffee, her syrup covered pancakes and then Bo's drink, and made his way into his usual resting spot - the kitchen cabinet. After a series of shuffles and clatters, he went quiet.

"He kinda smells," Bo commented. "Does he ever bathe?"

Tamsin gave her a big, I-don't-care shrug as Sugarmuffin answered Bo's question with a sneer.

"You are more than welcome to wash him," Tamsin told Bo as she rolled her last pancake and used it to clean the remaining syrup off her plate. "The shower is right there."

Bo rolled her eyes. She pondered for a while, before she asked, "where exactly did you find him?"

"I believe I've answered that question for you already. The answer I gave was, it's none of your business," Tamsin said with a cocky smirk.

"Fine, what type of dog is he then? I don't think I've ever heard of a dog who would eat Ghouls."

"Well..." Tamsin replied absentmindedly while replying an email she had just got. "Technically, he's not a dog."

"What? He's not?" Bo frowned hard.

"He's ummm...something that...let's just say that he's half dog, half…."

"Half what…?" Bo asked curiously.

Tamsin, however, didn't give Bo an answer, as her memories took her back to that dark, cold cave where she had first met Sugarmuffin.

* * *

Tamsin woke up to the sound of water dripping. A few feet away from her, there was a small pool of water, and above it, there were a few cracks in the ceiling of the cave. Water seeped through the cracks, formed into droplets and fell down into the pool. That tedious sound irritated her so much that she could no longer go back to sleep.

It was broad daylight outside, however the sunlight seemed to have a hard time penetrating the darkness inside the cave. With the dim, almost non-existing light inside, she struggled to prop herself on her elbows. She looked down at her own abdomen while biting back her painful groans.

Under her half torn, blood soaked, dirty shirt, the long laceration wound had started oozing blood again. She thought she should change her gauze pad again and apply some antibacterial ointment, but as she tried to raise her arms, her muscles twitched hard.

She thought she should be recovering now after hiding in the cave for days, but her body was still too sore and every time she moved a little, a part of her would hurt.

 _Great._ She thought to herself as she closed her eyes in frustration.

She tried to grab her hunting knife - which she carried on her belt - and it took her forever to manage to clasp her shaking fingers around the hilt.

She panted hard as she pulled herself up into a sitting position with her back against the wall. Before she even tried to remove those blood soaked gauze pads, she heard something entering the cave.

It sounded like some small animal, and she let out a sigh of relieve. After she tried to tear the gauze off herself and failed, she threw her head back and closed her eyes.

Pain consumed her eventually, and she started to drift into sleep. Right before she actually fall asleep, though, she heard a loud snort right in front of her.

Spooked, she jolted and her eyes shot wide open. She searched for the intruder, whom she assumed to be a grown male because the snort certainly sounded like it had come from one. However, there was no one there, not a human or Vampire anyway.

In front of her, there was a small dog. Tamsin frowned at him - for some reason she thought it was a _him_ \- and wondered, _was that...him_?

The dog noticed her stare and he stared back at her with his glittering amber eyes. For a split second, Tamsin could swear that he rolled his eyes at her.

 _Geez, when was the last time he bathed himself?_ Tamsin wondered as she grimaced at the dog's thick, bristling fur. He looked like a brush that she had used to clean the horse stable with before. He certainly smelled like one too.

The dog paced around her impatiently. There, he snorted at her again, and it confirmed her guess. The dog did have a voice that sounded like a grown male.

The dog kept huffing and puffing at her, like he felt very upset and irritated that someone else was inside the cave. Instead of doing anything about it, though, he turned around, limped to the pool of water and coughed hard. Then, he let out a series of suppressed, gagging sound.

Tamsin took a look, and realized that the dog was vomiting blood. It was then she noticed the injuries over the dog's body. He seemed to have been badly beaten. A big piece of fur along with the skin had been torn off his back, and one of his legs seemed to have been injured too.

Tamsin let out a deep sigh. As her sigh echoed inside the cave, it was as if the entire cave was sighing too.

She easily saw herself in that dog, beaten up, wounded and in hiding. As that thought fleeted across her mind, her heart thumped painfully.

She had never thought she'd end up like this one day, heavily injured and hiding in a cold cave near a village whose name most people had never heard of.

She wasn't dying, but she didn't feel like she was living either. She remembered herself lying in the cold snow bleeding out. She remembered herself staring at the lead gray sky, from where the snow was falling down. She remembered the smell of blood. It seemed to be the only thing that she could smell back then.

A part of her died there, in that heavy snowfall. A part of her died, for an illusion, for something she had wanted so badly but never once had noticed that it was not even real. After all the things she had done, all the deaths and blood she had been through, all she had left was nothing but pain.

She let out a deep breath and glanced at the dog, who still had blood dripping down along his chin. He looked right back at her with a small frown and limped forward a little cautiously.

"Hey..." Tamsin murmured as she moved her eyes to her backpack right beside her. "I got...food."

She found it ridiculous that she was speaking to a dog like the dog could understand her. And to her very surprise, the dod did understand her. He dragged himself to her backpack and pulled the straps off with his teeth. Then, he buried his nose into the bag and sniffed. After he found nothing but some stale rye bread, he let out a loud scoff and rolled his eyes.

He shook his head and puffed repeatedly like he was trying to get rid of the bread smell. Then, he left without looking at her twice.

Tamsin sighed (and the cave sighed with her again). She stared at the sunlight outside while wondering if the dog would come back. For some reason, a part of her hoped that the dog would return soon.

The night slowly fell, and darkness once again filled the cave. Tamsin's wounds started burning again, and her fever came back. She shivered hard while drifting in and out of her dreams. The heavy snowfall was everywhere. What truly scared her was that a part of her wanted to be buried by the snow. A part of her wanted to die.

She panted while shivering and sweating, until she was awakened by some loud noise. She clenched her teeth hard and reached for her weapon when she realized that it was a group of people approaching the cave.

As the group got closer, she felt a bit relieved because now it sounded like a bunch of kids were chasing something.

 _Maybe village kids are out hunting again._ She thought, since it was one of the common activities of the kids in the village. They would come to the mountains gathering fruits and nuts, and sometimes they would hunt things like birds or raccoons.

The next thing she heard, was something darting into the cave. She tried to see what it was, but her attention got drawn to the two kids in their early teens standing right outside the cave entrance. One had a long blowgun, and the other had a loaded slingshot. A few younger kids were standing behind them.

The kid with the slingshot launched a rock into the cave, but it seemed to have missed the target. She could heard that thing flee into a corner and hide in the shadows.

The kid curses and was about to come in, but the other kids stopped him. They had a short yet loud discussion, where the slingshot kid insisted that they should go after their prey but the other kids were too afraid to step into the dark cave. Eventually, they all left.

The animal that had darted in slowly approached Tamsin. As he came close enough, Tamsin realized that it was that dog. Apparently he was carrying a large item in his mouth. It was so big that he could only drag it along with him.

 _What the hell?_ Tamsin furrowed her eyebrows hard when she noticed that the thing the dog was carrying was a human arm. If she hadn't been in such a bad shape, she might have jumped.

As she took a closer look at the arm, though, she realized that it was either from a dead body or a Ghoul, since it was highly decomposed and it stank really bad.

It was surprising to her, that a dog would go after carrion, but since she wasn't even sure if it was truly a "dog", she thought she'd just let that slide.

The dog pulled the arm to his front, and pushed it towards Tamsin. With his wounds bleeding and his front left leg bent slightly backwards, he grinned at her triumphantly, like he was telling her that he had food way better than stale rye bread.

Tamsin couldn't help but chuckle, and then she had to bite her painful groans back because even chuckling hurt. For the first time in a long time, she suddenly felt that the heavy weight on her heart had been lifted momentarily, and that she was alive again.

"Well...I'm not gonna eat that thing, so you can have it all by yourself," she murmured as she pulled her backpack over. After a few gasps, she got herself a piece of rye bread and a half full water bottle.

The dog shrugged lazily and chowed down that rotten arm. After letting out a loud burp, he carried the bones to the corner and started to lick them.

* * *

"...so what exactly is Sugarmuffin?" Bo's voice pulled Tamsin out from her trance.

"He's ummm...he's a fiend," Tamsin eventually replied.

"A fiend?" Bo frowned. "Like…the urban legends fiend?"

Tamsin shook her head. "Fiends are real."

"So...he brings deaths to people?" Bo asked in surprise. "I mean, that was what everybody says. Whenever a friend shows up, someone's gonna die."

Tamsin huffed out a light laugh. "Well...yeah, whenever a friend shows up, someone's gonna die. And usually, it's gonna be the death of an entire village or something."

"So...Sugarmuffin is...like...who's gonna die?" Bo asked nervously.

Tamsin rolled her eyes. "No one," she drawled. "A fiend doesn't bring death to people. Death brings a fiend."

"What do you mean?" Bo frowned.

"They are like omens," Tamsin explained. "They appear right before something really bad is going to happen. They are...shit I don't really know what they are exactly. I guess they are just sick jokes of the Mother Nature maybe."

Bo pondered for a while, before she said, "I...when I was a kid, I heard stories about the friends appearing in a town nearby. A friend of mine said that he had seen them. They were a bunch of birds, like ravens or something. Each of them had three or four glowing red eyes. It scared the shit out of him..."

"I bet that town didn't last very long, did it?" Tamsin asked.

Bo shook her head. "Two weeks later, Ghouls attacked the town and...well, you know the rest."

She went quiet for a while, before she asked, "so...what is a fiend then? I mean, where exactly do they come from? They just appear or something?"

"Some are born like ordinary animals. Others are born inside dead animal carcass and peck their way out," Tamsin explained.

"Was Sugarmuffin born inside a carcass?" Bo asked. _That certainly would explain why he always smells so bad_.

"No, I think he was born a normal dog. It's just that...a dog born at a certain time under a certain circumstance becomes a fiend."

"What circumstance?" Bo asked curiously.

Tamsin sighed. "Do I look like a fiend expert to you?" She hissed. "The only thing I've heard is that...if a dog gives birth to exactly seven puppies right when the new moon appears, and if all puppies but one die immediately after birth, the living one would become a fiend eventually."

It was a theory she had heard while the Guild was still a thing. She had also heard that a lot of places would consider an animal a demon possessed one if it was born that way, and she figured that it was why Sugarmuffin was always being chased and hurt.

"Oh! So it's like how Huntresses are born?" Bo exclaimed.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Tamsin furrowed her eyebrows at Bo.

"You know, when a pregnant woman got bitten by a Vampire on a full moon night, and if she survives the pregnancy, she will eventually give birth to a Huntress..." Bo explained, and her voice got lower and lower when she saw Tamsin's impatient eyerolls. "Or...was that not how a Huntress is born…?"

"That is pure bullshit invented by morons!" Tamsin told her loudly. "Huntresses are _not_ born that way!"

"Then how are Huntresses born? I mean...Huntresses are born Huntresses, right?" Bo asked.

Tamsin rolled her eyes skywards again and refused to answer Bo's questions. Instead, she changed the subject back to Sugarmuffin. "Anyway, that fucker is a fiend."

"So you just happened to meet him somewhere and took him with you or something?" Bo asked.

"Yeah, that's exactly what happened…" Tamsin murmured and trailed off.

* * *

Tamsin jolted when she heard a loud scream afar. She opened her eyes in the darkness as she tried to figure out if that was something she had heard in her dreams.

 _Something happened?_ She wondered as she moved to the entrance of the cave.

The night fog outside covered everything. It seemed to have absorbed the sounds and voices too. For a moment she could hear nothing but the weeping wind in the winds.

The wind brought her something: the smell of blood and the smell of rotten flesh.

 _Shit._ She cursed as she pulled her hunting knife out. Her fingers were still shaking, and her middle finger still felt a bit numb, but she forced herself to grip her weapon tighter.

She cautiously went down the hill and approached the village. The dead silence made her hair stand.

Through the heavy fog, she saw vague silhouettes of moving things. The silhouettes looked very much like humans, the movement however seemed awkward and clumsy.

A sudden, loud cry of agony squeezed her heart. Then, it died abruptly. She could barely see a thing through the fog, but she could hear slobbering and munching, like there were a group of hyenas inhaling fresh meat in dire hunger.

She moved forward vigilantly until she reached the gate of the village. The guards, who were supposed to be there, were gone. There were, however, two pools of fresh blood there, and a blood drenched shoe.

Inside the village, it was nothing but blood and death. There weren't many bodies left, only a few pieces of body parts here and there.

 _Great_. Tamsin thought as she hid behind the wall of an empty house. She was too late. The Ghouls had already taken over the place and now they were just wandering around looking for survivors.

Had she not been injured like this, she might have noticed the Ghoul army sooner, and she might have been able to warn the village….Maybe...she could save a few.

 _Oh like you care_. She snorted and rolled her eyes.

A low whine coming from behind her spooked her. She turned around with her knife raised, and there she saw that dog half buried under a few pieces of bricks. An open wound on his head was still bleeding, and he was spasming and whining in pain. Then, suddenly, he sniffed and rolled to raise his head. When he saw Tamsin, he snorted loudly.

"Shut it!" Tamsin shushed him, but it was too late. The Ghouls had already heard the noise and they came at her.

Tamsin groaned in great frustration as she pressed her back against the wall. She held her backpack like it was a shield and stared at the Ghouls vigilantly. "Walk away," she warned as she raised her knife, hoping that the monsters would just leave after they saw the glowing blood rune of her weapon, but apparently they were either too dumb to notice that or too hungry to care.

They growled excitedly and closed in. Through the fog, Tamsin could see more and more shadows appearing. They were everywhere, and they all came towards her.

Cold sweat soaked Tamsin's palmed when she realized that it was an army much larger than she had thought. The entire village was surrounded by them, and there was no way out, unless she could kill them all.

She might stand a chance, if she was in great shape and had all her good weapons and loads of ammos with her, but having lost most of her equipment in the heavy snow while being this weak, it would be lucky if she could last twenty minutes here.

The Ghouls came closer and closer. She could smell them now. The rotten flesh and the smell of fresh blood made her gag.

Just as she was struggling to push back a Ghoul that was bold enough to jump at her, a loud screech came to her from sounded like death itself was dying and calling for help. As it ringed in her ears, it made her dizzy.

She stumbled, while shoving her knife into another Ghoul's chest. The blade glowed inside the rotten body, and the Ghoul collapsed.

She had just boosted the power of her weapon yesterday, but how many Ghouls could it kill before it turned into a normal knife? Thirty? Forty? She had way more than that around her right now.

 _What was that screech anyway?_ She wondered in slight dizziness. And then, she heard it again. It was even louder.

Before she turned back and took a look, the hair on the back of her neck bristled, like something had just appeared from nowhere behind her.

Then, a third screech came. It clawed her eardrums so hard that she groaned in pain and squinted her eyes shut.

Something leaped over her, or maybe went through her? It felt like a cold, wet gust, and she shivered.

She forced herself to open her eyes. She had to take a look.

There, in the thick, white fog, she saw a huge shadow. A huge shadow with the size of a pick-up truck and its shape vaguely resembled a dog. The shadow dashed into the Ghoul army, causing a big stir. It knocked the Ghouls down with its paws and tossed them into the air, before it chowed them down one after another. It kept pushing forward while eating Ghouls, and eventually disappeared in the fog.

Suddenly everything went quiet again. Tamsin opened her eyes. There were no one but herself, with a few dead Ghouls on the ground.

Then, she heard something coming at her. It sounded like something was being dragged over the ground.

The dog appeared in front of her. Strangely, he looked beyond vigorous. His eyes were glowing brightly in the darkness, and she noticed that all his injuries were gone.

He stared at her while letting out a loud burp. Then, he gave her a cocky grin. He dragged over a rotten leg afterwards and pushed it towards her, like he was inviting her to have some.

Tamsin couldn't help but let that chuckle burst out. Then, her chuckles turned into laughter. She couldn't stop laughing. With all the cold fog rushing down her nose and her throat, with the freezing wind in every hole of her clothes, with her legs shaking, her breath short and her stomach hurting by laughing so hard, she kept laughing until tears came out from her eyes.

* * *

Tamsin cleared her throat as she rolled her eyes at Bo's curious stare. "Look...I met him somewhere and then...he kinda followed me, you know, " she eventually said.

"Ugh huh," Bo hummed. She knew it wasn't the truth, at least not all of it, but she thought maybe it would be a good idea to ask about it later. She finished her bottle and said, "so, the woman who came yesterday, Alexa…."

"Yes, she's available and willing to bang Vamps, if that's what you want to ask," Tamsin smirked.

Bo slapped Tamsin's shoulder. "No, I was gonna ask about the case. Isn't she working on the same serial killer Vampire case or something?"

"Hey! I told you not to eavesdrop!" Tamsin exclaimed.

"I didn't. You guys were talking about it while we were down in the dungeon, and like I said, I can't not hear you," Bo argued. "Did she...tell you any new info or anything?"

"It's none of your business," Tamsin hissed. "And why are you interested anyway. Please don't tell me it's because of that Lydia bitch."

"No..." Bo murmured and bit her bottom lip. After a long pause, she said, "well, they all say that it takes one serial killer to know another, right?"

"What are you talking about?" Tamsin frowned hard.

Bo took a deep breath and replied, "the Vampire who...who turned me, he's like...he's pretty much a serial killer too, and I thought maybe...your serial killer would know something about him?"

"You..." Tamsin murmured as she stared into Bo's eyes. There was that painful bitterness again, the same painful bitterness that made her heart ache, the same painful bitterness that suffocated her. "You don't know who did it?"

Bo shook her head. "It was a long time ago and back then the forensics stuff weren't that good...The police...they couldn't find him because I couldn't really remember much. After a few years of nothing, they closed the case, so…."

She didn't continue. After staying quiet for a long time, she said, "well...I guess I'm gonna go get some rest. The sun's about to come out soon."

"Sure," Tamsin nodded and got into the cab. She heard a light sigh from Bo, and somehow it broke her heart.

* * *

 **A/N: This chapter is about Tamsin and Sugarmuffin, so...maybe more Valkubus in the next chapter :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Sorry it took me so long to write this Chapter.** **A job opportunity has just come up and I am busy relocating. With all the moving, the job and what's left for me to finish in school, I barely have any time to write fanfic. I'm afraid that I'm gonna stop updating all my stories for a while.**

* * *

Chapter 10

It was a little after six in the afternoon. The setting sun made everything overly warm. The soft air and the orange-gray hue that tinted the clouds made Tamsin feel extremely lazy. For a moment she thought she should just park her RV in the middle of nowhere and have a cold beer while lying in the blooming dandelions.

She sighed and shook her head as she kept driving, for she had to get to the city named Lubec before dark today. It was one of the places at where she had planned to make a brief stop, where she had a few clients to meet.

She drove for another forty minutes, and then she parked the RV outside the city. She switched to her car and headed into Lubec.

Another twenty minutes, she saw the city gate which looked like a toll station at the end of the six lane road she was on. The gate had one entrance for each lane. The three entrances on the right were for humans, while the three on the left were for Vampires. In the middle, road dividers were placed so cars on one side couldn't merge onto the other side.

Tamsin slowed down and waited in line. She tapped her hand against the steering wheel absentmindedly while listening to the music.

A while later, some loud giggles caught her attention, and she turned to take a look. In the lane to her right, there were four human teenagers in a convertible. They were laughing loudly while pointing at the van right in front of her.

From the decal on the rear window of the van, she figured that it was a Vampire family with two teenage kids and two cats. She rolled her eyes when she saw one of the Vampire kids roll down the window and bare his teeth at the human kids.

The humans seemed to have been provoked by that, and one of them fired some insults while giving the Vampire kid a finger. The Vampire kid hissed something back angrily.

The little fight quickly ended when one of the armed guards came to them and gave both sides a warning. The van got its windows rolled up, and then it changed into the lane on the left. The human kids seemed to have considered it a victory, and they laughed while mimicking the Vampire kid's actions. Eventually, the guard stopped them and warned them if they couldn't behave they'd be denied entry.

Tamsin rolled her eyes again. A part of her felt a little relieved that this stop would be very brief and that Bo wasn't planning on coming into the city tonight.

* * *

It took Tamsin almost an hour to actually get into the city. Finding a place to eat became a pretty hard task for her since everything inside the city, like the highway, was segregated too. Almost every place would require IDs and no matter where she went she always felt the stare on her back - both from the Vampires and the humans.

She ended up getting a quick dinner at some fast food place where she met her clients and collected her payment. Then, she visited the local Vampire Crime Division office. After getting some updates on a few cases she had been working on, she headed back to the RV.

She barely parked her car when she heard Bo's loud groans, Sugarmuffin's angry hisses and the sound of both of them struggling hard coming from the inside. She pulled her knife out and rushed in.

Tamsin frowned when she heard Bo cursing, Sugarmuffin yapping and the sound of water being splashed inside the shower room.

"What the-" she murmured as she opened the shower room door. There, Bo was holding a toilet brush in her right hand and the shower head in her left. Sugarmuffin, who had Bo's left foot on his back, fought for his dear life while dodging the hot water.

Sugarmuffin finally freed himself when Bo turned to Tamsin and let go of him momentarily. He knocked the shower head off Bo's hand, causing the water to splash everywhere. When the brunette groaned softly, he fled with a small patch of shampoo bubbles still on top of his head.

"Hey! You get back here right now!" Bo yelled as she struggled to turn off the water. She rushed out, waving the brush angrily while searching for the dog, but the dog had already left the RV and was nowhere to be seen. Frustrated, Bo tossed the brush back into the bathroom and growled.

Tamsin paid little to no attention to Sugarmuffin or anything else. She was completely drawn to the half wet Bo. At first her eyes kept lingering along Bo's body. It was tightly hugged by the soaking wet shirt, and her breasts were bouncing slightly as she walked. Suddenly Tamsin couldn't figure out what she should be looking at, Bo's messy hair bun, her long legs, or that crimson boy shorts she was wearing (which was the only thing Bo had under her shirt).

As that heated arousal burnt her painfully, Tamsin moved her eyes up again and noticed a few drops of water sparkling on Bo's cheeks. Mesmerized, she allowed her eyes to follow those water drops down along Bo's jaw line, then the side of her neck….

The sound of Bo clearing her throat made Tamsin clear her throat too. With her ears starting to burn a little, she took a quick glance at Bo again and was relieved that Bo wasn't mocking her. Instead, the brunette seemed very self-conscious right now.

Nervous and clueless, their eyes met. Both of them studied the subtle flames in the other woman's eyes while trying to figure out why their hearts suddenly pounded so hard.

Tamsin cleared her throat again and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "What the hell were you doing?" She tried.

"I was washing your damn dog," Bo drawled as she loosened her hair. She combed her hair with her fingers while grunting something angrily, and she didn't notice that Tamsin's eyes were secretly following the movement of her fingers as if she was stroking her hair with them.

"I guess that didn't go well, did it?" Tamsin commented. _Or maybe it went too well..._ she thought as she glanced at those perky nipples under Bo's shirt.

"Well I would have washed him good if you hadn't show up and let him run away," Bo complained. "Do you have any idea how much he stinks?"

"He doesn't exactly smell like roses but...it wasn't that bad, okay?"

"Oh it totally was!" Bo argued, "I was trying to get some sleep and the damn dog was right there. I felt like I was sleeping next to a trash can full of dead fish! I washed him four times. Four times! And the water still looked a little muddy."

Tamsin frowned at the word "shampoo" and took a quick look at the bathroom. "You used my shampoo on him?!"

"That's the only thing you have!" Bo replied. "Next time you are in town, get a bottle of dog shampoo or something, okay?"

Tamsin shook her head and looked at the floor. There was water everywhere, especially near the shower room. She pushed a few dirty towels over with her foot and cleaned the floor with them.

Another glance at Bo, she tossed a clean towel to the brunette and said, "dry yourself, would you? You are making my floors all wet."

As she was saying that, her eyes uncontrollably fell on Bo's legs for the hundredth time. All she could think of was how tightly those legs wrapped around her waist the other night when Bo came under her in shivers.

She uncomfortably rubbed the side of her neck - where the bite mark had been - while forcing herself not to think about how Bo begged her to take her hard, or how she pulled her hair while coming on her tongue.

 _Geez, just stop_. She told herself as she lowered her head and focused on cleaning the floor.

"I'll...take a shower," Bo announced as she entered the shower room. Before she closed the door, her eyes met Tamsin's again. That flutter inside her suddenly got worse when she noticed the way the blonde's gaze lingered on her.

* * *

Tamsin stayed in the living room recharging her weapons by offering some blood to her pendant. She knew she should have done that yesterday but somehow she felt reluctant doing it in front of Bo.

It wasn't that she was afraid of Bo losing control over her blood - in fact a part of her secretly hoped that it would happen. She just didn't want to see that look in those brown eyes again, like Bo somehow hated herself for wanting fresh blood.

Her mind, once again, slipped back to the sex they had the other night. Strangely, this time, she wasn't thinking about those hot details. She was thinking about that moment when Bo collapsed on top her, Bo's fingers slowly traced down along her chest and stopped right above where her heart was. At that very moment, there was this look in Bo's eyes, both soft and sad. That look somehow broke her heart a little.

Tamsin growled as she turned her eyes back to the pendant instead. She let her blood drip down on her pendant, and then all the blood runes lit up. Bright light burst out from her pendant when she chanted. Then, she let herself revelled in that slight electric current that ran through her veins.

As she was putting her pendant back on, Sugarmuffin returned. With his fur cleaned and fluffed up, he looked twice as large as he had been.

He sniffed around grumpily as if he was looking for Bo. Then, he snorted loudly at the shower room before he lay beside Tamsin's foot.

He started to whine, like being clean had crushed him and he was actually dying because of it.

"Well...maybe you should take a bath every once in awhile, you know?" Tamsin said.

Sugarmuffin answered her with a loud whine. He sniffed himself, and then puffed loudly, like the smell of the shampoo was bothering him a lot.

"Oh relaaaax! You are fine," Tamsin drawled.

Sugarmuffin gave her a gaze of death and ran into the bedroom. Tamsin rolled her eyes when Sugarmuffin slammed the door shut.

A while later, Bo came out from the shower. She had a loose, black t-shirt on with a pair of light gray sweatpants.

She was drying her hair with a towel when she noticed the faint smell of Tamsin's blood in the air. It drew all her senses in. Though, she decided to act normal as she sat down beside the table and had a bottle of warm drink.

She watched Tamsin working on the case while sipping down her drink. Their eyes would occasionally meet and every time that happened, the air seemed to have heated a little around them.

"You got any new leads on that case?" Bo tried after having found herself staring at Tamsin's lips and the fresh cut on her finger for too long.

"New leads or not, what makes you think that I'd want to tell you, hmm?" Tamsin murmured absentmindedly as she studied a cold case she had dug out from the police database. It was a murder case that had happened years ago. Some signs of it led her to believe that it might have been committed by the killer she was after, even though the signature was very different.

As she was talking to Bo, though, she thought she had a spark in her mind, something about the case, something important, but before she could grasp it, it went away.

Bo flipped over a few pages of case files, before she turned to look at Tamsin's pendant. She noticed that the pendant had a pale pinkish glimmer, possibly from absorbing Tamsin's blood. As she thought about that, the taste of the blood tickled her softly.

"Can I take a look at your pendant?" Bo asked.

"No," Tamsin said firmly.

"Why not? You are afraid that a Vampire's touch would break it or something?" Bo teased as she rested her chin in her hand.

Tamsin rolled her eyes. "Why do you want to look at it?"

"Because I haven't had a closer look at it yet?" Bo replied. After getting no reply from the blonde, she leaned in and picked up the pendant.

Tamsin froze when Bo's cold fingertips softly brushed over her collarbones. The brief contact somehow made her skin burn.

All of a sudden, the only thing that was there was the aroma of Bo's shampoo, or body soap, or whatever that was that was all over her. Tamsin couldn't really put a name to it. She figured that it might be some sort of flower or fruit. It was soft and freshening. It reminded her how Bo nuzzled the side of her neck before taking her blood the other night. Somehow, the way Bo gently pushing the tip of her nose against her skin made her throat dry.

"Hey! Did I say that you could touch it?!" Tamsin hissed as she yanked the pendant out of Bo's hand.

Bo rolled her eyes and sat back down. She went quiet for a while, but eventually got too distracted by that faint, bittersweet smell and ended up blurting, "what is in your blood anyway?"

"Why?" Tamsin raised her eyebrows at Bo.

"Because it's so-" Bo almost bit her tongue when swallowing the word "delicious" back. "It's just...kinda different."

"Please," Tamsin snorted. "Just spit it out. It's awesome because I'm fucking awesome."

"Wow, I don't know what makes people like you more, your attitude or your ego," Bo drawled. She stared at Tamsin for a second or two, before she asked, "where do Huntresses' power come from?"

"Ummm...try born with it?"

"So...you were born a Huntress?"

"I was born with power. I worked my ass off to become a Huntress," Tamsin explained impatiently. "Having the power to kill Vamps and being a Huntress are two very different things. There are many women who have that kind of power, but only a few can become Huntresses. Many live and die without even knowing that they have power."

"How did you find out then?"

"Well..." Tamsin said while pretending to ponder, "when I turned 16, I suddenly burst into flames and killed a little Vamp who asked too many questions."

Bo playfully punched Tamsin's elbow, and got a hiss as return. "Seriously, how did you find out that you have power?"

Instead of throwing out more sarcasm, Tamsin bit her bottom lip and went quiet. It was then that she realized that she had never talked about things like that with anyone outside the Guild. She wasn't trying to keep it as a secret or anything. She just never felt the need of sharing her life experience with anyone in particular.

"I didn't," she admitted. "The Guild found me and took me in."

"The Guild found you…? Like...they knew you had power so they came for you?" Bo asked, frowning. After getting a nod from Tamsin, she added, "how did they know that?"

"I have no idea. They just knew," Tamsin said. "All I know is that...many women are born with Vamp-killing power, but the Guild is only interested in those who are on the very strong side of the spectrum. I don't know how they know who has the power or where that person is. I just know that one day they came to me and took me in."

"So I guess Huntresses aren't born to some pregnant woman being attacked by a Vampire under full moon, huh?" Bo joked.

Tamsin shot Bo a cold glare. She was about to make some snarky comments on what Bo had just said, but instead something occurred to her. After a short pause, she grabbed the case files and laid each case side by side. She quickly went through them, focusing particularly on the way each victim was killed and the time of death.

"Holy shit..." she murmured.

"Huh?" Bo raised her eyebrows as she looked at the case files. She had no idea of what Tamsin had just discovered, but as Tamsin sorted the case according to the date, she figured that the time of the cases was critical.

"Care to share your extraordinary findings?" Bo asked.

Tamsin raised her head and stared at Bo for a while, before she said, "you know, it always bugged me that...while almost every serial killer devolves as they kill more people, this one actually does not. Instead of becoming less controlled, he gets more controlled...I mean, look at the first case here…."

"Okaaaay..." Bo murmured as took a quick glance at the file and then immediately turned away. It was perhaps the most brutal murder among all of them. The victim's body had almost been destroyed to the point where it looked like she had been sawed open and then cut into pieces.

"So he's not devolving. Are you saying that he's not crazy?" Bo asked.

"Oh, trust me, he's crazy, like the king of the loony bin crazy," Tamsin said. "I just got this all wrong-"

Bo's loud "Ha" made Tamsin give her a cold stare. Instead of bickering with Bo, though, Tamsin continued, "for all this time I thought he killed these women because that was what he was after, the brutal death of his victims…."

"And somehow you don't think he wants them dead?"

"No, I'm just saying that killing these women isn't the only thing he wants," Tamsin explained.

"What other motive could he have then?"

Tamsin sighed and pondered for a long time, before she said, "you know, the full moon pregnant woman rumor isn't the only rumor about how a Huntress is born. How someone could become a Huntress is pretty much...a mystery outside the Guild. People make up all kinds of shit to explain where a Huntress is from or how one is born…."

"Okay…?" Bo frowned hard for she couldn't figure out why Tamsin started talking about Huntresses again.

"Other than that fullmoon bullshit, there's the one where the child of a Vampire and a human who share the same parent would become a Huntress. Of course, it was another bullshit," Tamsin said, "then...there is one where people believe that if a Vampire impregnate a woman, kills her and then feeds his blood to the fetus, the fetus would eventually become a Huntress."

"Ewww! That sounds really gross!" Bo exclaimed. "How the hell can a Vampire give blood to a fetus whose mother has already died? Who would actually believe that?"

"Well, this killer does," Tamsin said as she tapped her fingers on the case files. "He's not just killing them. He's trying to make Huntresses."

"What?" Bo exclaimed, beyond confused. She frowned at the case files, before she murmured, "are you saying that this killer...somehow believes that rumor and he's actually practicing? That's not...I mean, I think I read that a couple of them had been pregnant before they died, but not all of them…."

"Because not all of them can be tested," Tamsin said. "The earlier victims got their abdomen completely removed, destroyed or mutilated. The coroner can't tell."

"But…" Bo murmured and stopped when she realized that the all victims had their body cut open. For the later victims, the cut was far less messier, almost like the killer was performing some sort of surgery. "Oh God...this is just gross...and...and wrong!"

"Anyway, I think he was after the fetus. He didn't really know what he was doing when he killed the first few victims, but now he's getting much better…."

"If...if that's really what he wants, why would he smash their heads or cut off their limbs?"

"Hard to say. He's a sadistic psychopath, and maybe he wants to throw the cops off the track..." Tamsin concluded. "Maybe there's something else. I don't know. All I know is that it would explain everything, if he is trying to make Huntresses. All the victims were sexually assaulted. Some were pregnant and others were inconclusive...all of them were cut open…."

"Okay, let's say we are right-"

"I am right," Tamsin interrupted Bo and pointed at herself. "Let's say _I am_ right."

Bo rolled her eyes hard. "Fine, let's say you are right, there's this asshole out there who believes that he could make Huntresses. How are we gonna catch him?"

Tamsin huffed out a scoff. "We are gonna catch him-I mean, I am gonna catch him because I know exactly where that stupid rumor was from. It from a very isolated, small village."

"So whoever the killer is, he must have come from that village?"

"-or at least has connections to that village," Tamsin said. "It won't be a long list either way. If he's that crazy, someone must have noticed something."

"Why would a Vampire want to make a Huntress anyway?"

"Because he can raise her the way he likes, and turn her into the scariest, most powerful killing machine," Tamsin said. "He could also feel the power of being able to control the only kind that is capable of killing him."

"But, the rumor won't work, right?" Bo asked nervously.

Tamsin shook her head. "Can you imagine if it would work?"

Bo nodded slightly. For a moment she didn't even know if she should feel sick, or relieved.

"I'm gonna go make some phone calls," Tamsin pulled her phone and went outside the RV. She spoke to some people on the phone, until she heard a loud, angry cry from Bo.

She rushed back and took a look, when Sugarmuffin ran out from the bedroom with a grin of victory on his face. He darted out and disappeared.

"Your damn dog peed in my sleeping bag! And my back up one too!" Bo yelled in great frustration as she dragged her sleeping bag out from the bedroom.

"Well, the washer is right over there," Tamsin pointed at the washer while holding back her chuckles.

"These need to be dry cleaned, and that'll at least take two days. Hell I don't even know if there's any good dry cleaners who would service a Vampire in this city," Bo threw her hands into the air in frustration. "God I'm so gonna kill him."

"Geez, can't you just cover yourself with a blankie or something? Or, I mean, if you prefer, you can sleep in the closet. It's completely dark inside-"

Bo hit her face hard with a pillow. "That damn dog is so dead," she hissed, and when Tamsin chuckled again, she hit her with that pillow again.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: soooo...finally got some time to finish this chapter. It's been a while! Hopefully next chapter won't take this long.**

* * *

Chapter 11

Tamsin and Bo (who had insisted on joining Tamsin despite the blonde's disapproval) went after the Vampire serial killer. With the help of the local police force, they finally located the killer after days of travelling.

They arrived at a small, single family house in a quiet suburb community. Their presence - especially the heavily armed Vampire crime special force unit - startled the neighbors.

When they broke down the door of the small house and rushed in, a man stood up behind the couch.

He was supposed to be the killer, at least Bo thought so, since his looked the same as the photo she had seen on the way here. Although, he wasn't at all what she had pictured in her mind.

Bo had thought that he'd be strong, with at least a hint of brutality in his eyes. She had pictured him as a beast, or a monster, with craziness and blood thirst written all over his face.

The man in front of her, though, looked beyond normal. His back was a little hunched, and his left leg was crippled. Standing there was middle aged guy who was neither tall nor strong, whose hair was peppered with gray. He looked like someone Bo would offer help loading his groceries into his car in the parking lot.

Bo searched for that craziness on his face. She searched for it in his eyes and in his voice. She thought for sure she'd find some, but she had seen none. The man looked calm, surprised, and maybe even a little...scared? When one of the officers arrested him, he did not struggle, fight back or attempt to flee, as if his mind was somewhere else. He just blankly stared at the officer's vest, like he was having a hard time comprehending whatever the officer was telling him.

For a brief moment, Bo thought, maybe this wasn't their killer. Maybe, somewhere along the investigation they got some info wrong and came to the wrong house to arrest the wrong person.

Then, she saw the man turning to take a look at Tamsin. First he glanced at her face, and then, his eyes moved down and fell on the hunting knife Tamsin was carrying on her belt. His eyes were glued to the blood rune there.

A swirl of wicked desire exploded in his eyes. It was envy, obsession, hatred and disgust. His eyes glittered, as if he had just found something he wanted for all his life time. The look on his face, it made Bo's hair stand.

The man took a step forward towards Tamsin. He opened his lips a little, as if he wanted to say something to her. For a moment, Bo couldn't even be sure whether he was thrilled to see Tamsin, or he wanted to end her right here right now.

"Oh...you...you..." the man muttered, too excited to talk. Tamsin answered him with a scoff and a fist in his face. She knocked him down. Two officers dragged her back, while another two escorted the killer out.

The killer had his eyes on Tamsin the whole time, and that look made Bo feel sick.

* * *

Bo and Tamsin searched the man's house for evidence. At first, they were just looking for trophies the killer might have kept, or maybe journals detailing the killings. However, when they discovered that there was a movable cabinet in the basement, they knew the killer must have hidden much more than just some trophies.

As Tamsin pushed the cabinet aside, a strong, foul smell burst out. They both covered their noses and mouths immediately while looking at the dark passage behind the cabinet.

Out of the darkness there came muffled groans, snuffles, grunts and whispers, like there were a herd of panicking animals hiding in there.

Tamsin finally found the light switch and flipped it. The dim light revealed the dungeon that behind the cabinet. It seemed that the killer had dug out a huge space under his house, and used it as a prison.

The prisoners inside snuggled together in fear. They trembled when they saw Bo and Tamsin, and some of them scrambled to hide themselves in the corner.

As Tamsin and Bo finally took a good look at the dungeon, they realized that not all the prisoners were alive. Some of them were dead. Some of them had died a long time ago. Their dead bodies were highly decomposed and looked beyond gross. It seemed that the killer never bothered to clean the place, not even a single bit.

There were also small piles of bones in the corners, but Bo wasn't sure if those were from humans, or animals.

Bo looked at those frightened, pale faces. She had never seen that much fear on anyone's face, not like this.

She wanted to tell them that they were safe now, that everything would be okay and that no one would ever hurt them again. She wanted to tell them that she was here to help them, but words died in her throat before she could get them out. She clenched her hands, feeling that cold sweat had drenched the back of her shirt.

Tamsin sighed and signaled the cops outside to come in and take the victims out. Then, she got down on one knee and picked up a piece of tattered garment from the floor. "That son of bitch must have been doing this for decades at least..." she commented as she examined the old style garment.

"So he kept all of his victims down here? Right under his house?" Bo's voice was shaking a little as she looked at the last victim who got taken out by a cop. The victim fought hard while screaming something she couldn't understand.

Then, Bo's eyes fell on the two buckets and a small, dirty trough in the corner. She assumed that those were for water and food, but they were covered in old blood and excreta. That finding gave her an extremely uncomfortable clench on her stomach.

"Not all of them," Tamsin reminded her. "Remember all those dead bodies that led us here?"

"You didn't...you didn't tell me that he has thirty women locked up in his basement, like this..."

"I didn't know," Tamsin admitted honestly.

"If-if he has kept them down here all this time, why did he start dumping those bodies?"

"My guess? He ran out of space and his injured leg or his age or whatever wouldn't let him do more diggings down here. He had to throw those bodies out."

Bo nodded in silence. As she looked around again, nausea hit her again, and she finally threw up. She coughed and gagged in tears while emptying her stomach in the most embarrassing way.

It wasn't because of anything she was seeing or smelling right now. It wasn't because of the dead bodies, or the filthy buckets. What sickened her was that a person could have done something so horrible to that many innocent people.

"You okay back there?" Tamsin asked. She was smirking, and her voice was sarcastic as usual, but a hint of concern still leaked through.

Bo took a deep breath and shook her head. She was about to say something, but before that she heard a weak sound coming from inside the wall.

"Do you hear that?" She asked, frowning.

"Hear what? You vomiting? Yeeeep, loud and clear," Tamsin drawled.

"No," Bo said. "I think I heard something...like inside the wall…."

"Huh?" Tamsin frowned, but quickly realized that as a Vampire Bo's hearing range was wider than hers. She pointed at the wall behind them and raised her eyebrows at Bo. Bo nodded while wiping her mouth.

Tamsin investigated the wall carefully, and finally realized that a piece of the muddy wall wasn't actually a part of the wall but a piece of concrete that could be pulled out and turned like a door.

Tamsin pried the "door" open, and the smell of blood, vomit and feces thickened in the air. Behind the door there was another dungeon. Inside it, there was a group of creatures. They grunted and hissed at Tamsin and Bo while looking for places to hide.

In the dim light, Bo looked at those creatures. She wanted to call them "kids" or "children", or maybe even with a more general term, "humans", but they looked nothing human. They had limbs which looked like burnt sticks. They had eyes with nothing but hatred and bloodthirst in them. Their teeth were sharp and pointy, and their skin was covered in lesions.

They looked exactly like Ghouls.

Tamsin and the cops had a long talk. From their conversation, Bo learned the terrible truth: these Ghoul-looking creatures were probably the children of the killer and his victims.

Bo closed her eyes in despair and fisted her hands. In fear, disgust and anger, she watched the child services taking the creatures away. She couldn't help but wonder what would happen to them, or more importantly, if the society would even allow them to live.

She also wondered, in shivers, what would happen to those victims. She still remembered the look in their eyes. Most of them seemed to have had their lives taken out of them already. They were alive, yes, but at the same time they had died a long time ago. She couldn't bring herself to even think about what those women had suffered. In this small, dark hell, they were destroyed, torn apart and damaged in the most brutal way. They were shredded into pieces, pieces that could never been put together ever again. They had everything ripped out from them. Would that kind of wound ever heal?

Bo walked back to the living room while taking a long, deep breath. She numbly looked at all the police cars outside the house. The cops were about to take the killer to the precinct.

Bo knew that if she ever wanted to talk to the killer, now would be her best chance. After all, she came all the way here because she thought this monster might know another monster, the Vampire who had killed her family and turned her.

Before she walked out, she accidentally met his eyes. The amount of delusion and wickedness scared everything living breath out of her.

She realized that his sanity was too far gone (if he ever had any). She feared that anything that would come out from his mouth would haunt her for the rest of her life.

* * *

The trip back to Tamsin's RV was unusually quiet. Bo sat there while praying that anything she had seen in the dungeon wouldn't give her nightmares later.

The drizzle outside made every color fade. It was as if everything had suddenly turned into a dull gray-blue. The traffic light's red bled into the light rain, becoming the only bright color in the entire world.

The silence lasted forever inside the car, before Bo's eyes finally met Tamsin's. Bo could just see her own reflection in those light blue eyes. She was pale, and frightened, just like those victims she had seen today.

Feeling a little embarrassed, Bo turned away. She thought for sure Tamsin would make a snarky comment about how scared she was or how weak she looked.

However, the Huntress didn't say a word. She simply covered Bo's cold hand with her own and squeezed it gently. With her eyes still looking at the road and the cars in front of her, she slowly caressed the side of Bo's thumb with hers.

There was the heat from her skin. Then, there was her heartbeat. Her strong, warm heartbeat. Like flames, it burnt Bo, giving her life again.

After a brief moment of silence, Tamsin pulled her hand away so she could have both hands on the steering wheel. Taking a glance at Bo, she pulled the corner of her mouth into a big smirk and said, "you look like a pink piggy."

Bo cleared her throat uncomfortably. At first she thought that she was blushing, and as she thought of that, she felt herself burning again for the warmth lingering on her skin.

Soon, though, after she looked at herself in the mirror, she realized that Tamsin was referring to something else - her skin being literally pinkish red like she had had a minor sunburn.

Bo rolled her eyes and drawled, "it's because I haven't slept inside a sunlight proof bag for three days! It's your damn dog's fault!"

"Didn't you send it to the dry cleaner or something?" Tamsin chuckled at Bo's big eyeroll.

"Yeah, if I can't get them back before dawn I'm seriously gonna leave them a one star review online," Bo grunted.

"Relax, I figure you'll only be medium rare after two or three more days of sunlight," Tamsin commented.

Bo punched her shoulder and Tamsin laughed. She let those loud laughter burst out as she secretly glanced at Bo with the corner of her eye. She felt a bit relieved that the brunette was chuckling as well and she no longer seemed frightened.

Her eyes slowly moved to Bo's hand, the hand that she had just held in hers. She wanted to hold that pale, soft hand again. She wanted to wrap those cold fingers in hers gently and to rub her silky skin with the tip of her thumb.

She wanted to take Bo into her arms for a moment and to give her a light kiss, to warm her up, to comfort her, to convince her to let go of that shadow of fear. She wanted to see those brown eyes melt in her embrace.

Those ideas made her fingers tremble and her throat dry. They made her heart flutter like she had been given another life.

* * *

They returned to the RV a couple of hours before dawn. Bo was relieved to see that the dry cleaner had delivered her the sleeping bag.

They each took a shower. Then, Tamsin cooked herself some microwaved food and made comments about how Bo shouldn't be stealing her ice cream because she needed no food to survive. Bo, who was licking the thick chocolate syrup off her spoon, taunted Tamsin boldly by scooping herself an extra bowl.

Tamsin talked to a few of her clients on the phone afterwards, and Bo had two bottles of Vermilion Zero. After Tamsin hung up her phone, she asked Bo, "I thought you were gonna talk to that asshole?"

"Huh?" Bo hummed while raising her eyebrows at her.

"You said you wanted to talk to the killer," Tamsin reminded her. "What you are too scared or something?"

"I am not scared," Bo hissed. "I just...I just don't see the point of talking to him. I mean...he's too crazy and-"

She huffed out a light laugh and shook her head. She let out a deep sigh afterwards, before she murmured, "I wish I could remember his face."

After a quick glance at Tamsin's raised brows, Bo continued, "I mean…I tried but I just can't. I kept going through all those faces of the strangers that I had encountered before and after the...the incident, but none of them stood out."

"Well, you do know that you might not have met him, right?"

"I know," Bo nodded, "but...why? How could a complete stranger have done something like that? I mean...he must have picked my family for a reason, right? He must have picked me for a reason….There must be something that he was after. It...it can't just be random. I mean...how can it be random?"

Tamsin pulled her lips into a bitter smile, while her heart sank painfully at those tears Bo was trying to hold back.

"What do you remember?" She couldn't help but ask.

Bo shook her head and shrugged. "Nothing," she said. "I don't remember any Vampire approaching me. I don't remember seeing anyone weird. I don't remember anything out of the ordinary."

"Well, he might not look suspicious at all. Might be the cable guy, or the delivery man or something?"

Bo couldn't help but let out a giggle. "Now you sound like the detective who interviewed me." She paused briefly, getting herself another bottle of drink - not for her thirst but to have something to hold in her hands so she could look at it instead of holding Tamsin's gaze. "The only stranger that I can remember was a woman in her mid forties or something."

Tamsin raised her eyebrows. "What about her?"

"She was a...she was a Huntress, I think," Bo replied hesitantly.

Surprised, Tamsin frowned. "A Huntress approached you before the incident? Are you sure?"

Bo nodded. "I'm fairly sure...I mean, I guess."

"Huh," Tamsin tapped her index finger against the table. "What did she look like?"

"Ummm...a woman in her mid forties?" Bo repeated the description. "Dark, wavy hair...tall?"

"That could be anyone...what was her name? She did tell you her name, right?"

"I think she did, but I couldn't remember. It was...I think it was just a common female name," Bo murmured.

"Do you remember the pattern of her blood rune then? Every Huntress has a different one. I can easily figure out who that was if you-"

"That...won't be necessary..." Bo said in a low voice. "She was ummm…she died."

"What? How? I mean, how do you know?"

"Well...at first I didn't even know that she was a Huntress. I had no idea who she was. She approached me at a store or something and asked me some questions which kinda confused me….After the incident, I mentioned her to the police. Then, a couple of days later, the detectives came to me and asked me a bunch of questions about her. I asked him if she had anything to do with the murder, and he told me that she was a Huntress. Their conclusion was that she was after the Vampire who killed my family. They thought that she might have known that he was after my family before he killed them, and that she approached me to warn me or something…."

"That makes sense. Did they at least talk to her?"

"They tried, but it seemed that she had left town abruptly. Weeks later, they found her dead body in some abandoned factory. They told me that it looked like she had a fight with a Vampire and the Vampire killed her. They investigated, and it led to nowhere so…."

"Have they at least found her journal then?" Tamsin asked.

"Her journal?" Bo raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah, like a journal book. She should be carrying it with her."

"Oh, I wouldn't know...I mean, the detectives never told me details like that. All I know was that the community raised some money and buried her….Years later, the police stopped working on my family's case because...well there's nothing for them to go on. I tried to follow the leads related to that Huntress, but it was a long time ago and…."

She paused, for something occurred to her. "How do you know that she has a journal?" She frowned at Tamsin.

"Because every Huntress has one?" Tamsin shrugged.

"Oh...so you have one too?" Bo asked. After getting a nod from Tamsin, she murmured, "so you think she had the jounal with her when she...when she died?"

"She should. Whether it was still with her when they found her body though, I wouldn't know," Tamsin said. "If we-I mean, if you could find her journal, I could translate it to you with a very very small, reasonable fee."

"I can read," Bo said, finding Tamsin's offer amusing.

"You can't read Huntress argot, sweetheart," Tamsin told her. "Only Huntresses can."

Bo snorted and shook her head. "Even if I could, I still wouldn't know what's in her journal since I have no idea where that is. If that Vampire killed her, he must have taken it away. I mean…."

A long, heavy silence devoured them again. Bo quietly sipped her drink, and Tamsin composed some emails on her laptop. Their eyes would occasionally meet, and there were millions of things in each of them. Both wanted to say something desperately, but neither found the right words. For a moment, they held each other's gaze nervously while hearing the night falling softly upon the world.

Eventually, Tamsin closed her laptop and stood up. She leaned in and inhaled hard. "I've told you before, Bo. We are all monsters. You, me, the damn dog, we are all monsters. None of us is normal. None of us will ever be normal…."

She had no idea why she suddenly said those things. Maybe it was that subtle sadness in Bo's eyes. Maybe it was that painful bitterness in Bo's voice. It pinched her heart too hard, and she couldn't let it go. Maybe it was Bo's eyes. They were too damn soft, too damn sweet. They pulled her in, and she gave in and surrendered.

As her voice slowly died in the air, her heart stopped momentarily for those bright sparkles in Bo's eyes. They made her hold her breath, giving her a dull pain to her chest.

Sliding her hand into the brunette's silky hair, she pressed her lips on Bo's gently. Those cold lips, they quivered under her touch. They turned on like crazy.

When Tamsin was in dire need of air, she pulled back briefly and gazed into Bo's eyes. She thought she should stop right here, but how could she? How could she stop, when Bo was silently begging her to continue with her foggy eyes?

She pressed her lips on Bo's again. This time more aggressively, with heated passion burning inside her body. Before she knew it she had Bo in the bed under her, with her shirt ruffled up and her pants already unbuttoned.

With her fingers quivering in lust, it took her forever to peel Bo's shirt off. The brunette's half open lips and the contour of her neck were so distracting that she had to stop every few seconds to kiss them and nibble them.

She eventually pulled Bo's shirt off and tossed it aside. As she pushed Bo's bra up she realized that those nipples were already hardened in excitement. She ground her palm against them slowly till Bo grunted impatiently.

She took them into her mouth, one after the other. She teased them ruthlessly and made them sore enough for Bo's voice to shiver a little every time she swirled her tongue around them.

"Tamsin…" Bo breathed, urging her to go further down.

"Hmm? You need me for something?" Tamsin teased while moving her lips down along Bo's stomach.

Bo wasn't able to answer her. Her mind was completely taken over by her pounding desires. She watched Tamsin moving down with those hot, hot lips against her skin. She watched Tamsin pull off her pants forcefully and nuzzle her pussy through her soaked underwear.

"Please..." that word slipped out of her lips before she could stop it. She opened her legs and let the blonde to pull off her underwear with her teeth.

As Tamsin's lips finally touched her aching folds, BO threw her head back in a loud moan of arousal. She could feel Tamsin's tongue on her clit, so soft, so hot, so evil.

Bo groaned in frustration when Tamsin suddenly stopped and moved back up. She frowned at the Huntress, asking her why she had stopped.

"Have a little patience sweetheart..." Tamsin breathed into her ear as she slid her index finger along the hot, wet mess between Bo's legs. "If I lick you now, you won't be able to have a mouthful of sweet, warm blood when you cum, right?"

Bo gasped sharply at Tamsin's words. She looked into those mischievous blues and blurted, "r-really? You are gonna...you are gonna let me have some of your-"

She couldn't continue, for her voice was trembling in desires. The taste of Tamsin's blood came back to her vividly, so vividly that it seemed to be lingering on her tongue right now. Every cell of her body was screaming for it.

"Yeah, you wish, you dirty little Vamp," Tamsin whispered to Bo in chuckles as she nibbled Bo's earlobe.

Bo groaned in disappointment, but immediately moaned out in pleasure when Tamsin plunged her fingers inside her. The blonded covered her clit with the tip of her thumb and started to give her waves of pleasure so intense that she bit down on her own lip til she tasted her own blood.

"Like it, huh?" Tamsin whispered to Bo as she tortured that excited little pearl with her thumb.

"H-harder, Tamsin," Bo begged and arched away from the bed. And then she gasped loudly as she started to throb and clench.

Tamsin pulled her fingers out slowly while enjoying those soft, desperate clenches around them. She raised them to show Bo how much juices were on them, before she smeared those juices over Bo's lips. She watched Bo sucking on her fingers and said, "if you really want it, though, why don't you just take it?"

Bo opened her eyes wide. With her orgasms still running through her body it took her forever to figure out what Tamsin had meant. The mere thought of pinning Tamsin down and taking blood from the blonde forcefully turned her on so much that she started to shiver.

She gasped hard as she ripped Tamsin's t-shirt off. Then, she grabbed the blonde's waist and shifted their weight until she was the one on top.

Pinning Tamsin's wrists tightly against the sheets, Bo swallowed hard at those bouncing breasts, that tone abs, and that strong pulse underneath her warm skin. For a moment, she found it impossible to distinguish the two different kinds of desires inside her. Was it the thirst for blood, or was it her lust? Or, were those two the same?

She kissed those breasts hungrily. She sucked those nipples like they were the only thing that would matter. She ran her tongue over every inch of Tamsin's warm skin. She kissed that strong heart beat tirelessly. She kissed it over and over.

Leaving a trail of wet, eager kisses on Tamsin's abs, she moved towards the blonde's soaked pussy.

Bo pulled Tamsin's panties off and wasted no time covering those aching folds with her lips.

She was planning on giving Tamsin a long, painful tease first, but when she saw how the blonde's clit throbbed in excitement under her tongue, she decided that a rough, fast orgasm might be an even better idea right now.

She pulled those soft folds between her lips, and Tamsin responded with loud, sweet moans.

"Oh God you are good at this…" Tamsin sighed in pure satisfaction as she dug her fingers into Bo's hair. She arched away from the bed as the unbearable heat accumulated inside her. Then, a part of her mind suddenly started to wonder how much Bo would enjoy her blood during her orgasm, and that idea pushed her over the edge.

She felt herself uncontrollably throb and clench hard. Then, Bo's lips touched hers, but only briefly. Those lips moved to the side of her neck, and that painfully slow movement made her shiver. The slight pain from the side of her neck reminded her that Bo was now feeding off her, and that pain made her cum again with hard clenches around the brunette's fingers.

Bo's blood covered lips touched hers again. They kissed breathlessly while rubbing themselves against the other woman's hand. As another rush of pleasure came to Tamsin, Bo fed off her again. This time the brunette was in shivers and whimpers too for she herself was cumming hard.

Exhausted but also charged, Bo collapsed on Tamsin. She panted hard as she rested her forehead against Tamsin's chest. That strong, vigorous heartbeat comforted her.

Tamsin lazily put her arm around Bo's waist. A part of her was surprised that having Bo in her arms like this would feel so good and so...natural.

When Bo raised to look at her, she gave the brunette a smirk while wiping the blood off the corner of her lips. She teased the top of Bo's fang with the tip of her finger. As she expected, Bo closed her eyes and purred while licking the blood off her fingertip.

As those beautiful brown eyes opened again, Tamsin slowly ran her fingers along the side of Bo's cheek. Fascinated, she gave Bo a light kiss on her lips.

The amount of sweetness and intimacy in that kiss scared both of them. And then, they kissed again, and again. The kisses were too careful, too gentle, as if they were afraid that they'd destroy something that was too fragile and too fickle.

After what seemed to be forever, Tamsin's ringing phone broke the silence.

"I probably should take that," Tamsin announced, though her voice was too lazy for any calls.

"I probably should go get a shower then," Bo said, but she didn't even try to move a single finger off Tamsin's body.

"Yeah you probably should," Tamsin commented while snuggling closer to Bo. She could hear her own heart beat. It was loud. It was nervous and excited.

If Bo still had a beating heart, it would beat just as fast as Tamsin's and perhaps even more desperately.

Tamsin's phone rang again, then again. The two women, however, just buried themselves comfortably into each other's arms and closed their eyes.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Bo was dreaming. She was floating around along swirls of vibrant hues and soft echoes. There were sweet voices, warm breeze and familiar faces. There were smiles, giggles and blooming flowers... Everything seemed so pleasant, so light hearted, so bubbly, until they all faded into a loud ringing sound. It rang over and over, forcing her to wake up.

"Turn it off..." she complained in a groan, burying her face deeper into the pillow as if it would just stop the ringing phone.

The arm around her waist tightened briefly as Tamsin's lazy chuckles came to her. The Huntress then let go of her and searched for her cellphone.

After having fumbled through all the things on the nightstand and then under all the clothes scattered on the floor, Tamsin had finally found it, just in time to take a call. When she killed that loud, annoying ringtone, Bo let out a soft, satisfied moan.

Tamsin talked on the phone for a while. Bo listened, not to the content of the conversation, but to that low, husky voice of hers.

"I gotta go," Tamsin announced after the call. "Need to meet a client in town."

"Like right now?" Bo muttered as she opened her weary eyes and took a glance at the blonde. With her hypersense still lingering and the glow of the sunlight so soft, the image of the half naked Tamsin seemed to be a dream that was too good to be true. Whatever that was left in Bo's lucid mind right now was completely mesmerized by her, by the way her messy, curly hair hugging her cheeks, by her moist, soft lips, by her neckline, and those bite marks on the side...She made those bite marks, and the blonde loved it.

"Yes, right now," Tamsin told her as she jumped off the bed and grabbed herself some clean clothes and a bath towel.

"Fine..." Bo grunted.

"What? Can't sleep without me?" Tamsin teased as she leaned in. She rubbed her thumb against the corner of Bo's lips to wipe off a small blood stain there. "I thought you'd sleep just fine considering how much _warm drink_ you had last night."

"I didn't have a lot..." Bo protested softly as she let her eyes wander down to those bite marks again. A stream of nervous arousal bubbled inside her. "I didn't take too much, did I?" She asked as she caressed them with the side of her index finger. Tamsin's pulse was right under her skin, strong, hot, full of life.

Tamsin didn't answer her question. She just slid her fingers into Bo's hair, pulled her in and gave her a kiss on her lips. After biting Bo's bottom lip teasingly, she pulled back a little and said, "remember we are leaving before midnight tonight. Make sure you get everything you need from the store before that, okay?"

"Yeah..." Bo murmured, nodding slightly while watching the blonde rushing into the shower. The warmth from Tamsin's lips, and the sweet taste of hers, lingered, giving her soft flutters.

Slowly, Bo drifted back to her dreams again. She dreamed that she was embraced by warm, fluffy wings.

* * *

After getting everything she needed from the store, Bo returned to the RV. She processed some work emails and spent a couple of hours watching an old show. Then, she got herself a bottle of warm Vermilion. Every sip she took would remind her how dull it was comparing to Tamsin's blood. It was not just the taste or the smell of her blood, it was everything in it. It was the teeth and tongue before and after it. It was the moans and gasps in between.

She stopped drinking the bottle before she could finish it. She poured it into the toilet and flushed it while wondering why Tamsin hadn't come back yet.

It was 10 pm already. They were supposed to leave before midnight, but Tamsin still hadn't showed up, nor had she contacted her about any change of plans.

Bo decided to give Tamsin a call, but the blonde didn't answer. Her voicemail was full and she wasn't replying text messages either.

 _Huh._ Bo frowned. _Maybe she's still meeting her client and can't talk or something? Or maybe she took on some side project that had taken her more time that it should have? She could be busy doing something and not paying attention to her phone..._

In a couple of minutes, Bo had come up with a lot of different scenarios where Tamsin was doing totally fine but somehow couldn't get to her phone, but none of those scenarios was convincing enough for her to shake off the feeling that something might have gone wrong. But, what could possibly have gone wrong? Tamsin was a Huntress, and she seemed to know her ways around everything. What, or who, could possibly have made her late?

After checking her phone for the hundredth time, Bo finally decided to go look for Tamsin in town. Better safe than sorry, right? She thought as she got dressed, before she headed out. When she walked passed the kitchen sink, though, she paused and kicked the door of the cabinet under the sink with the tip of her shoe. "Hey," she said. "You in there?"

Sugarmuffin reluctantly hummed something, after Bo had kicked the door two more times.

"I'm...I'm gonna go find Tamsin. You coming with me?"

Sugarmuffin answered her with a loud snort.

"Hey, she could be in danger, okay? I mean, we were supposed to leave like...30 minutes ago, but she's not here yet," Bo explained.

Sugarmuffin muttered out a series of growls and puffs, as if he was angry that Bo would interrupt his sleep time with such an insignificant matter.

"I'm serious," Bo drawled. "Aren't you at least a little worried?"

Sugarmuffin snorted again, and Bo couldn't tell whether he thought that Bo was being paranoid, or he just simply wouldn't care.

"Fine, I guess I'll just go alone then," Bo grunted. "While I'm gone, stay away from my stuff."

This time, Sugarmuffin didn't even bother to give her a reply.

* * *

Bo expected that she'd spend at least an hour waiting in line before she could get into the Vampire-friendly zone in town. It was just after midnight, when all Vampires should be out having fun. To her surprise, she found herself to be the only person that was trying to enter the Vampire-friendly zone.

As she arrived at the zone gate, she found that the gate was closed with a "DO NOT ENTER" sign in front of it. There was also a notice beside it stating that the zone was closed for tonight and would remain so without further notice.

 _Closed?_ Bo wondered as she stared at the notice. _What the hell? Why is it closed? Does this have something to do with her not showing up?_

After trying Tamsin's cellphone for one more time (and of course, no reply), she decided to talk to the gate guard first to figure out what was going on.

Bo approached the guard booth that was located right beside the gate. Inside the booth, a middle aged, uniformed guy was sitting behind a desk facing away from Bo. He was talking to someone on his cellphone, the look on his face anxious.

Bo waved her hands at the guard, but he wasn't paying attention to her at all. She had to knock on the window to finally get him to turn to her. The guard hung up his phone and stood up hesitantly. He slid the window to the side for an opening that was only several inches wide, before he leaned forward and told Bo, "I'm sorry, Miss. We are...kinda closed tonight."

"I know. I saw the notice. What happened?" Bo asked.

"Nothing happened," the guy quickly said.

"Then why are you closed?"

"Because...we are just closed for tonight, okay?"

"Right, you just close the entire Vampire zone at Vamp hours for no reason," Bo snorted. "Seriously, what happened?"

"Please..." the guard murmured with frustration. "Just go home."

"Well you gotta give me a reason," Bo said. "Why are you closed, hmmm?"

"I can't-I really can't tell ya," the guy said firmly.

Bo rolled her eyes. "Okay, I take it as you don't know why then," she drawled.

The guy seemed to feel offended by Bo's comment. "Of course I do," he said.

"Riiight," Bo snorted.

"Fine, you want to know why we are closed? I'll tell you why. A group of stake wielding bitches were inside and scared the crap out of everyone," the guard blurted before he could stop himself.

"A group of stake wielding-wait, you mean Huntresses?" Bo frowned.

"Shhhhh!" The guard waved his hands frantically at Bo, as if that word was cursed and saying it would bring dooms to him. "Anyway, now you know why I can't let you in. Now go."

"I'm not afraid of them. I've met a few before actually," Bo said.

"Yeah, so have I, but which part of a group of them being here a moment ago do you not understand?" The guard asked. "It's not just one or two. It's a bunch of them. When that many stake wielding bitches show up, you know they are after people like you and me."

"Well, I'm not a criminal, and I don't think you are one either. No matter how much they hate us, they can't just hunt down innocent Vampires like they used to. It's against the law," Bo explained.

"Innocent? Please, we are talking about the Huntresses. The purpose of their very existence is to kill us, okay? You think any of us are innocent in their eyes? We are all monsters to them. They used to kill us for a living. It's in their blood. You can't change that. Nobody can. Besides, haven't you heard about all those Vampire deaths around the country? I mean-"

"Yeah yeah," Bo interrupted him. "So a group of Huntresses were here, and that's why the entire zone is closed. Did they come here to kill someone?"

"I don't know. I don't think they have killed anyone, but I'm sure they will eventually...maybe they were here to check out the parameters and next time when they come over it's gonna be a massacre..." The man mumbled.

"Next time...? So they've already left?" Bo asked.

"That's what I've heard, but who knows. Maybe they pretend that they left but in fact they are still in there waiting..." the man grunted. "Look, you want to know why the zone's closed for tonight, you've got your answers. Can you please leave?"

"But...I kinda need to go in and find a friend of mine," Bo said. "And you said those Huntresses have already left so I guess it's no big deal, right?"

"I don't know for sure if they have left or not, and I really don't think you should go in," the guard told her. "If I were you, I'd just go home, grab a warm bottle and watch a show."

"I really need to find my friend," Bo said. "I'm not asking you to come with me or anything. I just need you to open that gate a little, let me in and then close it."

"I really can't do that. I was told not to let any Vamp in tonight," the guard said.

Bo ran her fingers through her hair in frustration. She let out a deep breath and looked around, before she suggested, "what if...I let myself in while you are accidentally looking away from the gate?"

The guard pondered Bo's suggestion briefly. Then he rubbed his palm against the side of his thigh and looked around nervously. "Can't do that either," he answered while looking away from Bo. "I could go get a pack of cigarette, I suppose, but I'd need cash for that."

Bo pulled her lips into a big, fake smile. With her nimble fingers she tucked some cash into the guard's jacket pocket. She patted the outside of the pocket gently and said,"enjoy your cigarette break, Sir."

* * *

Inside the gate, bars and stores were closed along the empty street. There were no lines in front of the Vampire parlor, and no warm bottled drink selling kids at the corner of the streets. When Bo walked passed by a convenience store, someone inside quickly closed the blinds.

It took Bo quite some time to finally find someone who was willing to talk to her. From that person she learned that the group of Huntresses were seen at a bar called "The Nest". For some reasons, she couldn't help but wonder if the presence of those Huntresses had something to do with Tamsin, and since she didn't know where to look for Tamsin, she decided to check out that bar first.

"The Nest" was a small bar on a narrow, winding street. The buzzing neon lights formed the contour of a big crow as its sign. Its parking lot, which should be full at this time of night, was now mostly empty. A few cars parked there, among which was Tamsin's old muscle car.

 _Huh_. Bo frowned as she walked to the car. _So she was here. Was her meeting actually with those Huntresses or something?_ Bo thought as she checked the car briefly. It was just like what she had remembered, scratches on the side and all kinds of junk inside.

After finding nothing out of the ordinary outside, Bo hesitantly walked into the bar. Inside there, it was a complete mess. Flipped chairs, broken glasses and spilled drinks were everywhere. Among the mess there was a pale cleaning guy sweeping the floor. When Bo walked in, he almost jumped. As he spun around, he held his broom up as if he'd use that to defend himself.

"We are...kind of closed," he told Bo with a shaking voice after he had made sure that Bo had fangs.

"It says OPEN," Bo said as she pointed at the sign on the window.

"Damn it..." the guy rushed to flip the sign to "CLOSED" before he told Bo,"we are really closed. Like...everyone's gone for tonight."

"So, what happened here that scared everyone away? Dart game gone wrong?" Bo asked as she looked around.

"A group of...a group of Huntresses came in and...made this mess," the man told her.

"A group of Huntresses huh...they just came in and started smacking things around? That can't be right," Bo said.

"No, it wasn't like that," the guy replied while shaking, as if the memories of the presence of those Huntresses would scare him.

"Then what was it like?" Bo asked.

The guy swallowed hard and then cleared his throat for a few times. He stared at Bo for a brief moment before he turned his eyes away. "Well...at first I didn't know that they were Huntresses. I mean, no one did. We didn't even know that they were a group. They came in separately, casually, like normal customers, you know," he said as he turned to face the door. He then pointed at the two tables (one of which was flipped, and the other got tossed to the side) near the entrance and continued,"one of them sat there and one sat there...they looked normal, I mean, I even took their orders..."

"What happened next?"

"Someone came in. I didn't know that she was a Huntress either. She came in, and all of a sudden all those Huntresses just pulled their weapons out and jumped at her. That was when I know they were all Huntresses. I saw those red, glowing things on their weapons. I freaked out. Everyone started screaming and running...they were fighting. Things got smashed...knives and swords everywhere..."

"Wait, are you saying that the group of Huntresses, who came in earlier, were here ambushing that one Huntress who came in late?"

"Well it looked that way to me," the man nodded. "When she walked in, they all just...pounced at her. It took them awhile to finally subdue her."

"So they subdued her...and then?"

"I think they dragged her out and they all left in a van."

"This Huntress who got ambushed...what did she look like?" Bo asked.

"I don't know...tall, blonde, blue jacket, black pants?" The guy said hesitantly.

Damn I wish I had a picture of her so he could identify her...Bo thought in frustration. She tried to remember a certain distinct feature of Tamsin, and then something came to her. "Did you get a look at that red, glowing thing on her weapon? Do you remember the pattern?"

"Ummm...I think it's a...bird, wait, wings maybe?" The guy said.

Bo let out a sigh of despair. "Do you have any idea why they ambushed her? Did they say anything, like...anything?"

"No, I mean, they sure as hell said a lot when they were destroying everything in here. I just don't understand a single word of it," the man replied. "I think they were speaking in another language or something."

Bo nodded. That must be that stupid Huntress language. She thought.

"You said that they all left in that van. What color and make is the van? Where did they go? Like which direction?" She asked.

"I have no idea what make it was. It might be...black? Some dark color for sure. Gee...where did they go...? They went down the street that way, I think," the guy pointed to the north. "I assume that they went for the north gate since it's right down that way."

"Thanks." With that, Bo rushed out. She found no one at the north gate but a few sleepy guards. After a long conversation with them, she confirmed that they did see a dark van leave the gate not too long ago.

Bo exited the gate. Outside it was the entrance ramp to the highway in the middle of woody lands. After canvassing the area, she did find one thing - Tamsin's cell phone, smashed and tossed to the side of the road.

As she held the broken phone in her hand, panic suddenly hit her hard. For a moment, she couldn't think and she couldn't move. Her ears were ringing and her head was buzzing. Her legs were shaking hard and so was her entire body. She couldn't breathe. She didn't even know where she was. Everything around her started to spin, pulling her into a nightmare that she couldn't escape.

She desperately tried to hold on to something. She forced herself to breathe in the crisp night air. Breathe, breathe, breathe. She told herself, holding on to her raw Vampire instinct, the only thing that was preventing her from passing out right now.

And suddenly, something came to her.

It was a smell, a scent. It was carried to her by the night breeze, among the smell of old pines, withered grass, still water and moldy dirt.

It was the smell of fresh blood. Sweet and bitter, hot and cold. Faint, very faint, it was barely there, but it was indeed there.

She knew that smell. She knew it well. It was Tamsin's blood. She had had it just hours ago, and it still lingered on her tongue. The Huntress must have gotten injured during the fight, and left that smell of blood behind her.

Bo's eyes shot open as she took a deep, deep breath. All of a sudden, she could move and think again.

* * *

Bo followed the smell of Tamsin's blood all the way to an abandoned manufacturing plant in the middle of nowhere. The old, rundown building stood there alone. With the graffiti covered walls and the shadows of the overgrown trees behind it, it looked like a weird monster.

At the front entrance, there was a van parked there. Two women stood on the side. One of them was looking at her cellphone, while the other one was playing with a handheld electronic device. The night wind carried their casual conversations to Bo. She couldn't understand it, though, since they seemed to be talking in that Huntress language.

After watching them for a while, Bo took a careful, quiet detour to the backside of the building. Nobody was there, and she sneaked into the building through a broken door.

The moment she stepped into the building, the smell of Tamsin's blood practically hit her in the face. It was no longer a vague trace. It wasn't just a few drops of blood, or a minor scratch. It was thick and it was strong. It was the smell from fresh, gushing blood, the kind Bo would smell when someone had a an open wound.

Her fangs popped out involuntarily and her eyes turned blue. Her stomach started to clench hard. Roaring desire for blood and fear, they made her want to throw up.

She desperately tried to figure out where that smell was from, but it was everywhere. She walked down the hallway in haste, looking through every window and every door. Before she knew it, she bumped into someone.

It was a Huntress. She had a dagger in her hand, which was drenched in blood. Her hands were covered in blood as well. Fresh, warm blood. The pale moonlight fell on that crimson color, giving it a cold, frightening hue.

That bittersweet smell. Now she was drowning in it. Fear seized her, but not for long. It quickly turned into rage, and something inside her awakened.

* * *

 **A/N: Took me awhile to write this chapter! Just wanna say that I haven't abandoned my fics. Not sure when I'll be updating but I'll try whenever I have time.**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Tamsin jolted when she regained consciousness. For a while she could only hear the ringing in her head. As she took a deep breath, she choked in the taste of blood. It was thick in the back of her throat. It was thick in her nose. It was everywhere.

She tried to cough the blood out, but she couldn't. Short, shallow breath burst out from her, yet the rusty, salty taste remained.

Letting out a vague groan, she pulled her head up a little. The slight pull on her muscles gave her a sudden, sharp pain. She flinched, and the handcuffs on her wrists clattered.

 _Great._ She thought as she let out a deep breath. She bent her wrists as hard as she could and fumbled with the handcuffs with her shaking fingers. The heavy metal piece felt rough, and cold. It was sticky too, because it was coated in her blood.

She felt a bit dizzy, and her vision darkened slowly. Afraid that she was going to black out again, she forced herself to focus. _Where the hell am I?_ She wondered as she looked around with her swollen eyes.

She found herself in a dark room, cuffed to the pipes in the corner of the room. The chipped paint on the walls, the broken windows and the dust covered concrete floor made her believe that this was a building that had been abandoned a long time ago. The door to the room was closed. Beside the door, there was an old desk and a tattered office chair. On the desk, there was an open leather sleeve that held some metal tools: knives in different lengths and widths, saw-tooth edged scoops...She was very aware what they were for - they were for torturing people.

Tamsin snorted at the tools, before she bent herself forward and reached her fingers down in her back pockets in which she usually kept her lock-pick toolkit. And, of course, it was no longer there. She couldn't find her phone and she didn't have any of her weapons with her, including her backup revolver which she usually holstered on her ankle.

She looked around, searching for something like a rusty nail or a lost paper clip, something that would allow her to open the cuffs, but there was nothing useful around her.

She thought she'd try breaking the pipe off the wall instead, but with every piece of her muscle in great pain, it was impossible for her to gather enough strength to do that. She closed her eyes and gasped hard in despair, before she examined herself. Broken ribs, fractured forearm, one stab wound on her lower abdomen and maybe two on her back...

Before she passed out again, the door to the room opened. A woman walked in, followed by four others.

"Look who's finally waking up," the woman said to Tamsin. Her voice was soft and sweet, but pretentious. Underneath there was nothing but coldness and disgust.

Tamsin stared into her face. It was just as she remembered, a pair of big, hazel eyes filled with hate, lips that curved into a cold scorn...the rest seemed a bit blurry, and somehow that made Tamsin chuckle. Those dry, breathy chuckles left her mouth and quickly turned into heavy coughs. Foamy blood clogged her throat but she just kept laughing as she moved her eyes to the other four women in the room.

The one who stood closest to the table was also the tallest woman in the room. She had her light hair tied into a neat bun behind her head, and an old dog tag around her neck. Tight gray tshirt, camo pants, dirt covered boots and hunting machete, those were all she had on her right now. On the side of the machete's hilt, there was a glowing blood rune with the pattern of a hornet. Tamsin remembered her. She was Bethanie, code name "Hornet". Before the guild was dismantled, they two spent quite some time on Vampire hunting missions together.

The one standing beside Bethanie was Jessa, code name "Bramble". Jessa used to be Tamsin's trainer when she had first joined the guild. She looked exactly like Tamsin had remembered too, tightly clenched lips, sharp eyes, short hair...She still carried her garrote on the side of her belt, and Tamsin had lost count of how many Vampires had their heads cut off by that thin, prickly metal string. Even Jessa's closet seemed unchanged, white tank tops and black pants as always. Although, the scars along her arms and on the side of her right cheek seemed to be new.

Beside her, there was Elka, code name "Purple", for she had a pair of purple eyes. She had her hands tucked into the pockets of her hoodie, and a crossbow on her back. Right now that pair of purple eyes were staring right back at Tamsin, burning with anger and hate.

Tamsin didn't recognize the fourth woman. She looked young, nervous and restless. She was wearing two holsters under her armpits, each holding a long barrel revolver. There was one blood rune on each grip with the pattern of a bullet. The glow of those blood runes, though, were dimmer than other women's. Tamsin knew that either the young Huntress had not charged her weapon with Huntress power for a while, or her power was simply not as strong.

Then, there was the woman who had just spoken to her, Mel, code name "Little Witch". She was a petite woman with long blonde hair and a sweet face. She dressed like she was attending a cocktail party, but instead of a pretty clutch purse, she had a walkie talkie in her left hand and a handgun in her right. She was smiling at Tamsin, and Tamsin couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes at her fake, taunting smile.

"Took you this long to find me, huh?" Tamsin scoffed. "Or it was just that hard to gather a bunch of losers and form this little army of yours?"

"Say whatever you want, Tamsin. You are the only one who's cuffed to the pipe bleeding to death," Mel replied as she pulled her lips into a cruel smile. That smile got bigger when Tamsin coughed out more blood.

"I've been worse," Tamsin said simply.

"I'm sure you have. You are like a rat, a cockroach, impossible to kill," Mel said.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Tamsin replied.

"After all these years, I thought you'd at least have to the decency to end your own pathetic like for what you've done, but here you are, still breathing and everything, making money off Vampire victims."

Tamsin huffed and shook her head. "The guild's long gone, Mel," she said. "I work for a living now. Maybe you should try that."

"I'd love to, but I'm just too busy hunting down Vampires and traitors like you," Mel replied. "The guild might have been gone, but we are still Huntresses. Well, at least I still am. I'm not so sure about you."

"It's the new era now, Mel. We no longer have a mission to kill every single Vampire on earth. Get used to that, and let go."

"Let go? Let go of what? Let go of the fact that you were the reason why the Guild was gone?! Let go of the fact that you killed them all?" Mel shouted as she punched Tamsin in the face.

Tamsin's head lolled to the side, yet she started to chuckle again. "If this is all you want, just go ahead. Maybe we can just save this conversation because I don't think it's going anywhere"

"Oh no, don't you think this is going to end soon," Mel said. "I am going to make you pay for what you did. I am going to make you suffer, for everyone who had died there...for her..." Her last few words sounded like a whimper now.

"Oh you want me to suffer? Funny cuz I thought you went through all the trouble just so you could get a confession out of me," Tamsin said as she stared at those angry eyes.

"I don't need your confession, Tamsin," Mel said. "I know what you did. For years we thought you died with them, and for years we mourned you. But, you lived. You survived. The survivor is the traitor. That was her last words. For years, I couldn't figure out what that meant, until I realized that one person survived that day, you!" Mel said.

"You want your pound of flesh, just come and get it,"Tamsin murmured.

Mel simply looked away. She reached for those torture tools and ran her fingers over them one after another. Before she had decided to pick up one, her walkie talkie buzzed.

"What?" Mel hissed impatiently.

"Ma'am, we've got a stray downstairs," someone answered her with a plain tone.

"Take care of it," Mel bit out her order.

* * *

Bo raised her head in daze. She felt lightheaded. In her slightly reddened vision, she saw herself in a narrow, dirty hallway. There was a row of windows to her left (most of which were broken), allowing the moonlight to come through. She didn't just see that cold, pale light coming in. She heard it falling as well.

To her right there were a row of doors, most of which were closed. The night wind brought her the smell of the dying grass, the thick forest, the moist dirt and the distant river. Then, there was the smell of this old building, moldy, rotten. It was suffocating her.

A few feet away from her, at the end of the hallway, there were two Huntresses closing in on her. The one on the right was tall and muscular. She had long, dark hair, braided into many thin braids. The flail in her hand seemed heavy, and old. There were dark stains on it. On the handle of the flail there was an embedded blood rune glowing. It had a pattern of a large dog.

The one on the left was rather short and slender. There was a long, red scar starting from the left corner of her forehead extending all the way down her face. She was wearing a string of charms around her neck. The charms had a dull, pale color. Were they teeth, or small bone pieces? She was wearing a pair of spiked gauntlets. On the back of each gauntlet, there was a blood rune with the pattern of a wolf.

Bo swallowed hard and lowered her head unconsciously. The Huntress she had just bumped in, was now lying on the floor. Her eyes were wide open, and very dead. The reflection of the moon shined coldly in them. On her neck there were two fresh wounds, a pair of small holes made by Bo's fangs. Blood was still coming out. The last remaining blood inside that dead Huntress' body, warm, fresh, it stained her pale skin, and then the hem of her clothes.

Bo looked further down, and saw a dagger lodged in her own abdomen. It tore a hole there, and the clothes around it got burnt slightly. Skin around the hole turned deep gray, but strangely, it didn't hurt her at all. Bo grabbed the dagger and pulled it out. She tossed it away unconsciously, and the sound of it hitting the floor echoed in her ears. She watched the blood rune let out a furious flash before going out. The blood rune eventually turned brown, with a vague contour of a feline pattern. Was it a mountain cat...?

The two other Huntress' footsteps interrupted Bo's train of thoughts. She turned to look at them, and they were closer. Their faces were torn by hatred. The taller one was yelling something at her, but Bo found it impossible to concentrate on her words. She was hearing too many things right now. and the voices of that Huntress seemed like a roaring river, loud, yet far, far away.

Bo suddenly found it strange that everything to her seemed to be in slow motion. Not that things, or the Huntresses, were moving slowly, but all of a sudden she was able to see every single detail of everything. The way the taller Huntress lifted her foot, the way the dirt fell off her boots, the smudges she made when she accidentally rubbed her elbow against the wall...

Bo gasped hard as she shook her head. She had too much blood in her system, not regular blood, but blood from a Huntress. She had consumed every single drop of that Huntress' blood. Her hypersense was painfully strong and real, and her Vampire instinct seemed to be the only thing that was controlling her senses right now.

She stared at those Huntresses as she wondered if any of this was real. She was looking for Tamsin in this old building and she bumped into a Huntress. The Huntress attacked her but she somehow managed to kill her instead? Did she really suck every drop of blood out of her until that Huntress collapsed? She remembered the taste of her blood. She also remembered the pain when that dagger was plunged into her body. It seemed that the pain had now replaced the taste of that blood, or maybe the other way around? She was being torn apart by one of them, and put back together by the other.

She stared at those two Huntresses, and let out a grin. It wasn't her, but the Vampire inside her.

The shorter Huntress launched herself at Bo, attacking her from above with her spiked knuckles. Bo grabbed her arm and pulled her closer. She pulled her towards herself and practically embraced those spikes into her body, before she sank her fangs into her neck.

Nothing really mattered to her now. The pain, the moonlight, the heavy blow on her back...none of it mattered. The only thing that was on her mind was that pulsing vein under the warm skin. She needed that blood. She wanted that blood. She wanted every drop of it.

As she hungrily gulped down the blood, somewhere deep inside her, that Vampire chuckled.

* * *

Tamsin's head jerked backwards, and then lolled. She couldn't remember how many punches she had had already, or how many blades had cut through her body so far. She had taken so much pain that she thought she'd black out at any time now.

She was burning. She was shaking. She was bleeding out.

As the sound of her own blood dripping down came to her again, she tried to force the fear of death out of her body. She started to wonder how, or if, she could get out of this alive. Her mind involuntarily slipped to the cases she was working on, her clients, meaningless details of her daily life...Somehow, before she could stop herself, the image of Bo came in and it just became the only thing she could think about.

She found it extremely stupid, that she was probably going to die soon yet in the last few moments of her life she couldn't get Bo off her mind. She wondered what would happen to Bo's little mission. Would Bo go find another Huntress for her mission and eventually get herself killed, or would she just give up? That little stupid mission of hers, finding the stake that killed the Vampire Queen, she seemed so determined, so motivated. She had never said why she was looking for it, but Tamsin kind of had a good idea...

"...of you," Mel's voice came to her, vaguely. "...traveling with a Vampire? That's just disgusting."

"At least she's a lot cuter than you or your minions," Tamsin retorted.

"You just can't stop throwing yourself to the Vamps, can you?" Mel said. "You took their side. What exactly is so great about them? Is it the forbidden thrill? Do you just prefer corpses? How did they turn you?"

"I'm not on anyone's side," Tamsin bit out. "No one turned me."

"How could you? How could you just sit there and watch them die? Those were your sisters, whom you took an oath to love and protect. They gave you everything! They gave you a life, and a family!"

"If that was a family, that must have been the shittiest one on this planet...Look, I said this to you before, and I'll say it again. What happened back then, was a sad fucking tragedy. I had nothing to do with it. I was alive because I was lucky, not because I traded their lives for mine," Tamsin replied.

"You think any of us would believe that bullshit? You were alive because you were lucky? None of them should have died that day! It was supposed to be a simple raid!" Mel yelled. "Had you not leaked any of the details of the raid, no one would have died."

"Well, like I said, it wasn't me," Tamsin shook her head. "Shit happens, get over it."

"I will, after I end you," Mel hissed.

Tamsin huffed. "Whatever."

"What you think someone's gonna show up and rescue you or something?" Mel frowned slightly. "You'd be a fool to think that, Tamsin. No one is coming for you. No one will care if you are gone. I don't even know if anyone will notice that you are gone. You have no friends, no allies, no family. Who are you expecting, hmm? One of your clients? Some low life Vamp you've rescued before? Or are you expecting that little Vamp chick you've been traveling with? Let me tell you something, Tamsin. She disappeared the minute you went missing."

"Oh yeah? How do you know about that?" Tamsin slurred.

"I figure I'd send a few Huntresses to chase her down, but lucky for her, she was gone before they got there. Guess she smelled danger and ran. She didn't even bother to file a police report for missing persons or anything. I can't say that I'm surprised, because that's what exactly you get for siding with Vamps."

Something bitter exploded inside Tamsin. It wasn't because Bo was gone. No it wasn't. She actually felt a little relieved about that. It was because she suddenly realized that she'd never see Bo again, and that she was truly alone. She couldn't tell which one was heavier, but suddenly she couldn't breathe.

"It's a bit too late to feel sad now, don't you think?" Mel said coldly.

"I do feel sad, for you," Tamsin said after spitting out some blood. "You've been mumbling about how you'd want to see me dead and how you'd want to end me for hours now, and you still don't have the balls to shoot me in the head with your damn gun. You are a fucking coward, Mel."

Another hard blow on her jaw, bright spots flashed in Tamsin's blurred vision. She licked her cracked, blood coated lips. She fumbled with the cuffs again. She could open them, if she had something thin and sharp. If she could get hold of a weapon, she could make her way out of here. Maybe it would be the best to grab the rookie's revolvers, and then take down Elka before she-

It was then that Tamsin noticed that "Purple" Elka was no longer in the room. "Bramble" Jessa was gone as well.

Where did they go? Tamsin wondered despite the pounding headache. She looked at the rest of the crew. Were they unusually nervous, or it was just her seeing things?

Right before Mel hit her again, a series of loud burst came from Mel's walkie talkie.

"What now?!" Mel hissed at the walkie talkie as she squeezed it hard like it was Tamsin's neck.

"Ma'am...we...the stray Vamp..." a few broken words came through the device, with loud gasps and short bursts of breath. Tamsin recognized that voice as "Bloodhound" Catalina. She used to be a squad leader, and a brutal warrior. Hearing her panicking voice now made Tamsin frowned hard.

"Don't tell me that you two failed to kill that damn Vampire stray!" Mel shouted furiously.

A vague cry of pain answered her, followed by a long, deafening silence. A series of statics came afterwards, and then there came this lazy chuckle.

Tamsin's eyes shot wide open. Oh no. No it can't be. She told herself. It just can't be her. It's not possible. She was already gone. She can't be here. She just can't.

"Who is this?!" Mel bit out.

No one answered her. The chuckles went on and on, until Bo's soft voice came. "Who's next...?" She murmured, and ended her sentence with a loud burp.

Mel growled. She gave Tamsin a venomous glare, before she yelled, "Jessa, Elka, get everyone inside! Hunt the damn Vampire down! Bring her to me, dead or alive!"

"I think it probably should be, dead or...more dead," Tamsin pointed out, though her heart slammed so violently against her chest. That lazy, soft voice of Bo's, it rang inside her head, making her stomach clench and her throat dry. "Vampires are technically dead already, you know."

Mel slapped her hard, and Tamsin laughed.

"Why are you still standing here!" Mel yelled at the other two Huntresses. "Go downstairs and get that damn Vampire for me!"

The two nodded. They were about to leave the room, but a loud, sharp sound interrupted them.

It sounded like a cry, a scream, a bay. It was both painful and terrifying. A second bay followed immediately (this time, much closer), and then a third one.

The young Huntress struggled to pull her revolver out when something flew through the window.

With growls and hisses, a few frightened yet very pissed Ghouls landed on the floor. They sniffed and scrambled, violently attacking whoever that was in their way.

"What the hell?!" Mel exclaimed as she knocked one Ghoul back with her elbow. She pulled her gun out and started to shoot at the intruders while more poured into the room through the window. It was as if they were running away from something utterly terrifying and the only exit they could find was this room. They came faster than Mel could reload, and she stumbled to get her short sword out.

The entire room had turned into a chaos, and from the growls and yells in the hallway and downstairs Tamsin figured that a massive number of Ghouls had invaded the building and were fighting against the Huntresses.

Just as she wondered how and why suddenly these Ghouls would do something like this, the door to the room swung open.

As Tamsin took a clear look at the person appearing at the doorway, her heart skipped a beat. "Bo...?" She blurted.

Bo gave her a small grin as she pulled a garrote off her neck. She briefly ran her finger along the deep gray scar it caused before she tossed the garrote away.

She pushed away a Ghoul that was in her way and walked to Tamsin's side. For some reason, the Ghouls seemed to be more afraid of her than the Huntresses in the room. They avoided her like touching her would get themselves burnt into ashes.

Tamsin gaped at Bo. The brunette had blood all over her clothes. Thick crimson liquid still dribbled down along her chin. She was grinning at Tamsin while licking her fangs teasingly. There was something glittering brightly in her blue eyes. She seemed different. She had a fierceness in her eyes, a majestic cruelty, an invincible confidence. It was something so, so strong intense that it made her glow.

"Watch out!" Tamsin yelled as she saw Mel slashing her short sword at Bo from behind.

Bo rolled her eyes and spun around. She swiftly glided to the side as the blade fell at her - a move that Tamsin thought to be impossible under Mel's fast attack. The brunette then grabbed the stunned young Huntress and used her as a shield. She pulled the young Huntress around with her while forcing her to fire her gun at Mel and Bethanie. When she ran out of bullet, she pulled the young Huntress' second revolver out, kept firing and shoved the young woman away.

Taking the advantage of the chaos brought by more and more Ghouls, she fired the last shot at Tamsin's handcuffs and freed her. She lifted Tamsin on her shoulder and jumped out of the window.

"No!" Mel yelled as she hacked the Ghouls between her and Bo. She dashed to the window and managed to get out herself, but Bo (along with Tamsin) was nowhere to be seen.

In the endless darkness, she found herself among the army of angry, scared Ghouls. Vaguely, a few bays came from afar.

* * *

 **A/N: for those who are wondering how Bo could take down a group of Huntresses, it will be explained later. Also the feud between Mel (and her group) and Tamsin will be explained later as well. Maybe it's time for some Valkubus fluff and flashbacks :)**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Tamsin was trapped in scorching flames. She couldn't breathe because of the heat. She couldn't open her eyes. She heard voices. She heard the night wind. She heard loud yells and soft whispers. She heard deafening sirens and beeping machines, but she couldn't tell if any of those sounds were real, and she was unable to wake up.

She was pushed up and then tossed down in the darkness. Occasionally, she'd regain her consciousness. She'd see something, an image, a figure, a blob of light, or maybe a face. Things would appear, but she couldn't comprehend.

Each time after the brief consciousness there came the darkness again. She was surrounded by it, and everything seemed heavy and painful.

Then, she started to see something falling on top of her. Small, white, delicate. She saw snowflakes falling on her, piling up, burying her underneath.

Suddenly she found herself in the wilderness again. The thick woods of solemn pines...the rubble and ruin of a collapsed castle that might have been destroyed in the 1600s...the moss and the vines that covered the old walls, wilted and withered...the river wept and whimpered...and the eyes of the dead people that were staring back at her.

Dead bodies, they were everywhere. Dead Huntresses, whom she she had known, gone on missions with, or shared drinks with...

A few feet away from her, there was a huge, half-dead tree, and under it there sat a Huntress. She had a deep, long cut on her neck. Her blood, which had poured out, drenched the dirt under her. She still had her sword in her hand, and on there that oak leaf pattern blood rune still glowed weakly.

Away from her, over the broken castle wall, a long sword pinned another Huntress there. She hung there awkwardly, and her crossbow fell at the foot of the wall. The blood rune, a talon pattern, flashed furiously, yet her eyes were hollow and lifeless. Fear remained on her pale face.

Further away, in the field, in the river, in the castle, over the weed covered road, dead Huntresses scattered around. They all stared at Tamsin with their dead eyes.

Among them, there were dark gray figures - the dead bodies of Vampires who had been killed by Huntresses. They were completely charred and burnt by the power of the Huntresses. Some of the Vampire corpses had already started disintegrating. Soon, they'd all be nothing but a pile of old, dark ashes...

Snow kept pouring down. The sharp contours of the dead bodies started to blend into the white void.

The white void, it was about to consume everything, including her...

Tamsin gasped incoherently as she tried to get up. She couldn't. She had a gaping wound in her lower abdomen, and a broken leg. She suffered too much pain and she had lost a lot of blood. The coldness, it had completely drained her.

She closed her eyes, only for a short while. As she opened them again, a pair of frightened blue eyes startled her.

Someone was there, gaping at her. As Tamsin finally registered the image of her pale face and her pointy fangs, she realized that it was a Vampire.

 _Shit_. Tamsin thought as she clenched her teeth. She reached for her weapon, but she couldn't even lift a single finger.

The Vampire, a teenage girl, leaned in a little. Her eyes flickered brightly for the smell of Tamsin's blood, but in there there were also fear and caution - she had noticed Tamsin's weapon, a hunting knife, half buried in the snow. The blood rune made her gasp and stumble back.

Tamsin swallowed hard as she stared back coldly at the girl. She had never been this afraid before. The fear of being drained by a young Vampire while she was unable to fight back chilled her to the bones.

She watched the girl bare her fangs at her. She watched those eyes glow. She thought she'd close her eyes now. _At least make it quick_. She thought in despair.

The girl, however, didn't jump on her like she had expected. She let her eyes wander absentmindedly on Tamsin's wounds, the hunting knife, and then Tamsin's shaky fingers. She then stepped back and turned away.

Someone called the girl from the woods. The girl glanced at Tamsin again, and yelled something back.

Her voice rang in Tamsin's ears like vague thunders. Tamsin struggled to put her fingers on her hunting knife, but the girl sprinted away and disappeared in the woods.

Tamsin thought maybe she went to get her friends, but the girl never came back, and Tamsin was left alone in the snow, dying.

She found it strange that even though she was practically buried in the freezing snow, she was still burning up.

Soon everything in her vision turned white. She gave up and closed her eyes, thinking that she'd let go now. She was too weak, too exhausted and too helpless to carry on. She had no place to go, no one to go back to and no purpose. Maybe it would be a relief that she'd never wake up again...

But, something kept pulling her back. A constant, weak sound, a soft clicking, it kept pulling her back.

 _What was that?_ She wondered while her head was spinning painfully. Eventually, she figured out the answer: it was someone typing on a keyboard.

It took her forever to pry her heavy eyelids open. As she finally succeeded she let out a weak, painful groan.

She was in a dark room. She was in bed. She had an iv needle in her left arm, and something wrapped on her legs. It kept squeezing her gently and repeatedly, helping her blood circulate. It felt awkward that she wasn't wearing anything under a thin, loosely woven blanket, and that she also had a catheter.

Trying to figure out where she was consumed her. She panted helplessly. She was having a high fever, and her throat was parched. She couldn't move. Her head was spinning and her ears were ringing. Every inch of her body was in pain.

But, none of those things mattered to her, when she laid her eyes on Bo.

The brunette was sitting in a loveseat a few feet away from the bed. She had a laptop placed on her folded legs. The dim light from the laptop screen made her look unreal, and dreamy. She seemed to be reading something intently, and occasionally she'd type. When she wasn't typing, she'd pick up a small saucer plate beside her, in which there was a half eaten dessert. Soufflé de sang froid, or was it brûlée...? Tamsin wondered absentmindedly. She could smell the bittersweet chocolate, and that sweetness suddenly took all her pain away.

Bo seemed to be enjoying her dessert, so much that she didn't even notice that Tamsin was awake. She'd pick up the saucer, pause there and look at the screen for a few seconds. Then, she'd scoop a spoonful into her mouth. The fillings inside - made with real blood - coated her lips like thick raspberry jam.

Tamsin revelled in this scene - Bo eating a dessert. Then, she watched Bo getting up, getting a bag of blood from the fridge, getting a big, blue straw, coming back to the couch and drinking it like a human would drink a box of juice.

Tamsin found it comforting watching Bo. She found those blue flickers in her eyes warm. She found those blood covered lips enticing. She liked the way the dim light silhouetted Bo's face. She liked the way Bo's hair lazily rested on her shoulders. The smell in the air, Bo's shampoo, or maybe her perfume or lotion, it was soothing. It reminded her those sweet moments when Bo nested in her arms in bed. When she thought about those sweet moments, her fingertips would quiver a little as something incredibly warm pulsed in her chest. It hurt her a little, but she didn't mind it at all.

A part of her still couldn't believe that it was Bo who had rescued her from the group of Huntresses. It felt like a dream now, where she was badly injured when Bo entered the room. But, she knew it was real. It had to be, for the brunette still had the mark on her neck, a thin, dark gray light around her neck, a mark left by Jessa's garrote...

Tamsin closed her eyes for a while and drifted back to sleep. She kept waking up in daze, and she kept seeing Bo. Sometimes she saw her curling up in the love seat wrapped in a cozy, navy flannel blanket and sleeping. Sometimes she saw her playing an intense video game on PS4 in the corner of the room with the sound volume tuned down to a barely audible level. Sometimes she saw her talking to someone her phone with that soft, soft voice...

Sometimes, she saw her in the snow, in the wilderness, and sometimes, Bo became that Vampire girl. She became that pair of blue eyes and that pale face. She became that voice. She became that figure, and instead of leaving, she stayed there with her. She laid her hand on her forehead and smiled...

* * *

Tamsin's eyes shot wide open. The image of Bo's face, her concerned eyes and her clenched lips startled her, because it was right there in front of her. And the fact that she had opened her eyes startled Bo.

After having stared at each other for a while, Bo let out a smile of relief and said, "hey...you are awake."

"Mhm," Tamsin replied. She tried to nod but she couldn't, and getting that simple sound out of her throat hurt her.

"How do you feel?"

"Never been better," Tamsin grunted, and immediately was cut off by a groan of agony.

Bo chuckled. She checked Tamsin's temperature, and then she checked the iv fluid.

Tamsin looked around. She had thought that she was in a hospital room, and she expected to see herself in a small, uncomfortable hospital bed, with machines and equipment around and behind her. She expected to see some simple furniture, white board on the wall with doctor and nurses' name on, and biohazard dumpsters.

However, she saw none of those. Instead, she was in a big, soft bed. The sheets felt like they were made of pure silk. The room she was in, had simple but thoughtful furniture and decors. There was a big HD TV mounted on the wall. Under it there was a small shelf, old style, possibly from a flea market, but then carefully cleaned, painted and polished. It held several game consoles, some games and some bluray movies.

In the corner of the room, there was a bookshelf, and it was similar to the small shelf. It was old and heavy, but polished. The bottom shelf had some misc items, and the top shelf had several potted plants. A high efficiency grow light was embedded into the top. The middle shelf had several thick books and some framed photos. In one of the photos, Bo was in it as a kid. She was grinning at the camera in a blue-white bathing suit. Behind her, there were white foam crested blue waves and white sand beach. Beside the photos, there was a small stuffed teddy bear.

"What is this place...?" Tamsin murmured (though, she sort of already had figured out the answer) as she studied a painting on the wall. She wondered if those lines and shapes would mean anything. Were they just drawn randomly or did they actually form something more complex? It was colorful...

"This is my apartment," Bo replied as she sat down in bed and grinned.

"Your apartment huh..." Tamsin nodded.

"Two bed two bath with flex coffin room, open floor plan, basement level 3, newly renovated with brand new ventilation system installed, gated community with lots of amenities, a perfect jewel for Vampires," Bo described teasingly, like she was trying to sell this property.

Tamsin let out a small smile. "Basement level 3...not bad," she commented. "Not bad at all..."

Bo smiled too. She leaned in and gave Tamsin a kiss on her forehead, before she went to make a phone call.

Tamsin melted in that kiss. Those cold lips seemed to have become the only thing that was real to her.

A while later, a small medical team showed up. They checked Tamsin's vitals and got her off the iv fluids. Having that catheter taken off by them in front of Bo was maybe the most embarrassed experience Tamsin had ever had in her entire life, and Bo's teasing grin didn't make it any better.

The medical team prescribed her more medications, and left her a piece of paper with all the dos and donts. After talking to Bo briefly, they left.

"Care to tell me how I ended up here instead of in a hospital?" Tamsin asked as she listened to Bo cooking a simple meal for her. The smell of the sizzling oil made her stomach protest.

"Well, you were in a hospital. I took you to the ER. That was when I found out that no one likes Huntresses," Bo replied while stirring the eggs in the pan. "The hospital didn't like you there, because you scared the crap out of all the Vampires there. I watched a nurse come in, give you a shot, and then he started to shake and scream. They had to give him a shot instead to calm him down."

Tamsin rolled her eyes. "And they kicked me out?"

"Pretty much. They tried to transfer you when you became stable, but no other hospital wanted a Huntress...so I asked them if they could set up an in-home care thing in my apartment," Bo explained. "I still remember the way that doctor looked at me. She was this close to call the mental how you ended up here."

Tamsin nodded. She put her finger on the remote control and pressed the button to raise the mattress so she could sit up. Bo put a small table-tray in front of her, and then she put down the plate with some scrambled eggs and a few syrup covered pancakes. She also gave Tamsin a glass of milk.

"Are you sure you don't want to try liquid diet first?" Bo asked, a little concerned. "I mean-"

"I'll be fine," Tamsin replied as she lifted the fork. The small silverware seemed so heavy that it made her whole arm shake. "And I was really hoping that I'd be having a premium rare steak..."

"Stop complaining and eat it," Bo commanded. "I'm a Vamp. What you think I just have all kinds of premium steaks in my fridge?"

"How long was I out?" Tamsin asked as she inhaled the eggs. Damn I love eggs. She thought.

"Ten days," Bo said. "You heal fast. The doctors were surprised."

Tamsin snorted. "Where's my RV?"

"Torched," Bo told her. "When you were in the hospital, I thought I'd go get it, but when I got there, someone had already trashed and burnt it."

"Fucking bitches..." Tamsin muttered as she ate her pancakes.

"Did they do that? Did those Huntresses who took you do that?"

"What do you think?" Tamsin shook her head and sighed.

"Anyway, I gathered whatever that was left in there, and they are all in that box." Bo pointed at a big moving box in the corner of the room.

Tamsin nodded as she glanced at the box. Her big sword poked out from the corner. "Where's the damn dog?"

"Oh, he's around. I think somehow he figured out where you were imprisoned and managed to get all those Ghouls over. Both of us probably would have died there if it wasn't for that...he just refuses to enter my property, though," Bo said. "He's still around. He showed up the day before yesterday, and left you a Ghoul's leg on my balcony."

Tamsin couldn't help but laughed, even though it hurt her so much that she could no longer hold the fork. Bo laughed too.

As their lighthearted laughter went away, Tamsin scooted to the edge of the bed and put her legs down. She pulled Bo closer and examined that dark gray line on her neck. With the back of her index finger she caressed it gently. The painful heat pulsed inside her chest.

"Yeah, I have that now. Everyone keeps asking me where I got this cool tattoo," Bo said. "The doctor said that if I could keep drinking real blood for a while it would eventually go away."

"Mhm," Tamsin hummed softly as she traced her finger along that scar. Slowly, she leaned in and pressed her lips on it. She kissed that piece of skin over and over, like she was giving Bo a firm promise, a soft comfort, or a silent apology. Bo quivered in the heat of her lips.

Tamsin raised her head and gazed into those brown eyes again. There were some faint flickers in them, but they looked soft and warm. They looked completely different from when she rescued her from those vengeful Huntresses.

"How the hell did you do that?" Tamsin murmured. "I saw you there...you were like...I don't think it was possible at all for you to take them down like that. I mean, I knew those bitches. They sucked but they also killed a lot of Vampires before. Like, A LOT."

"I have no idea," Bo said honestly as she held Tamsin's hand in hers. She gripped those trembling fingers firmly."It didn't feel like me at all. I mean, I'm not saying that I was possessed or something, but it was just-I just had this power. I felt it inside me, like something was...awakened. I guess it was the adrenaline high or something. Or...or it could be that I was lucky enough to kill the first one and drain her blood. Huntress blood is...kind of strong. Maybe...maybe it was my hypersense at a whole new level."

"Or maybe you are just one little super Vamp," Tamsin teased, and Bo chuckled.

"I think if you are done with your food, you should get some rest," Bo suggested.

"I probably should..." Tamsin said as she lay down.

Bo grabbed a book and got into the bed too. She put a pillow behind her waist and sat there while looking at Tamsin affectionately.

"Okay now it feels kinda creepy," Tamsin complained.

Bo chuckled and gave her a kiss on her lips. "Then close your eyes, Huntress."

* * *

The tedious, gentle noise of the ventilator eventually woke Tamsin up. Bo was still reading, but the moment she noticed that Tamsin was up, she put her book down and turned to her.

"You feel okay? Do you need anything?" She asked.

Tamsin rolled her eyes slightly. "Maybe some water..." she requested.

Bo went to get a bottle of water for her, and she got herself a bag of blood.

After a few sips, Tamsin said, "so...I guess it's gonna be a few more days before we could go find your stake again. I'm gonna need a new RV..."

"I know," Bo said. "We'll figure that out when you fully recover."

"You shouldn't have done that, you know," Tamsin said in a low voice after a long silence.

"Done what?"

"Looking for me," Tamsin said. "You could have died there."

"Well, you would have died if I hadn't showed up."

"I know," Tamsin replied. She put one arm around Bo's and held Bo to her chest. Burying her face into the brunette's hair, she whispered, "I know."

"What exactly did you do to those bitches anyway? Why did they want you dead?" Bo asked as she gently stroked Tamsin's hair.

"It's a...long story," Tamsin sighed.

"Well, I think we have all the time we need right now for your long story," Bo said softly. "I'm not going anywhere, and neither are you. I'm in this with you now, believe it or not. I need to know what I am up against to."

"Fine..." Tamsin murmured as her memories rushed back to her. She was in the snow again, alone, dying...

"It was...ummm...many years ago," she started. "Back then we were still working for the Guild."

"We? You mean you and those bitches?"

"Well, back then, every Huntress worked for the Guild, okay?" Tamsin explained. "The Guild was like everything to us. Everything we know, everything we learn...the Guild trained us to kill Vampires, and nothing else. And yes, I meant me and those bitches. I worked with them...well I haven't worked with that revolver chick. I have no idea who she is, maybe a new recruit...anyway, many years ago, we had this task one day. A bunch of Vampires outlaws occupied this abandoned castle and made the entire city miserable. We were supposed to raid that place."

"Mhm."

"It was just a simple mission. We'd go in, kick some asses, announce the arrest and hand them to the court, but...something went wrong that day. We got ambushed."

"Oh?"

"It wasn't just an ambush. It was calculated. It was planned. They knew we were coming, and they knew all the details of the raid. The moment we went in, it turned into a bloodbath. I got stabbed and then I passed out. When I woke up, everything was pretty much done. Every Huntress who joined the raid died, except me and the Guild leader. I heard that she made it to the rescue team, but died shortly afterwards."

"So you were the only survivor."

"I was. I remember lying in the snow with dead bodies around me. I thought for sure I'd die. Even if my injuries didn't kill me, some hungry Vamp would."

"But, you survived," Bo said.

Tamsin nodded. "I did. It wasn't easy. I managed to get to the side of the road and hopped on a carriage...it took me to a town nearby and I found a doctor to stitch me up. Then, I hid in this cave until I could move again..."

"What does this have anything to do with them wanting you dead then?"

"The raid went south because someone leaked the details to the Vampires. They were hunting down that traitor."

Bo paused. "You were the traitor?"

"No, I wasn't. As much as I hated that place, I wouldn't do something like that."

"Then why would they think it was you?"

"Because I was the only one alive?"

"Well, they are all alive too."

"No, you don't understand, Bo. They were alive because they weren't in that raid. Back then, everything in the Guild was more or less need-to-know. Only a group of Huntresses were in that mission, and some of us only knew parts of it. There were only a few of us who knew every detail of it."

"And you were one of them."

"I was." Tamsin nodded. "And the others were all dead, so..."

"If it wasn't you, who was it then?"

"Honestly? I have no idea, and I really don't care anymore. It was a long time ago. Those bitches just never learned how to let go."

Bo nodded. "Well...do you think they'll come back for you any time soon?"

"I'm sure they'll show up somewhere..." Tamsin murmured absentmindedly as her train of thoughts carried her away.

"What?" Bo asked.

"Nothing," Tamsin shook her head. She glanced at Bo and added, "it's just..."

"Just what?"

"When I was there, in the snow, dying, I think I saw a young Vamp," Tamsin said.

"A young Vamp? Like one of those who ambushed you during the raid?"

"No...I mean, I don't know. I don't think she was one of them. She was probably just a passer-by, but...she was there. She was staring at me, and she was a bit...scared. I think...she might be traveling with someone, like-anyway, there was this forest not too far away from me. I think whoever she was traveling with was there, and they asked her if..."

"They asked her if what?"

"They asked her if there was any survivors, and she looked at me and said _no they are all dead_. Then, she just left."

"So...she lied."

"Yeah..." Tamsin nodded, and then she went quiet. She still remembered those frightened blue eyes. She still remembered those bright flickers of hunger, but under the fear and the excitement, there was something else. Under the raw desires and emotions, there was something pure and warm. She had seen something very similar in Bo, and sometimes, Bo reminded her of that young Vampire girl. There was something inside both of them, something that drew her near, something that made her wonder, something that made her feel intrigued.

Bo quietly rubbed the side of Tamsin's hand with her thumb for a while, before she hesitantly started, "remember when I told you that a Huntress approached me right before my family was killed?"

"Yeah, I remember. Why?"

"You asked me if they had found her journal, and I said I had no idea," Bo said in a slight embarrassment. "I lied."

"Oh?" Tamsin raised her eyebrows.

"They did find her journal, along with her dead body, but they weren't able to read it, I guess, so they just tossed it into an evidence bag and put it with her other belongs inside a box in their evidence room."

"And you know this how?"

"Not too long after their death, the police stopped investigating because they had nothing to go on with. I was really sad and moved away...then a few years ago I moved back, thought I'd check with the detectives to see if there was anything new. It turned out that the detectives no longer worked here, and the station refused to tell me anything. I got pissed, so I broke into the evidence room, thinking maybe I'd find something there."

"And you found the journal?"

"Yeah, I did. Everything they had ever had that was related to the case was in a big box, and the journal was wrapped in a big bag. It was old, tattered. It had a leather cover...I couldn't read it. Most of the pages were blank anyway. But...I did find something hidden inside the journal cover. It was carefully tucked in between, and then the leather was sewed back together. It was a piece of old paper with a map and a short message. I learned the location of the Vamp Queen's grave from that letter."

"What?!" Tamsin exclaimed in shock. "Where's the letter? You still have it, right? I need to take a look."

"I don't have it. I was gonna grab everything but then the patrol came. I almost got caught. I had to go and I wasn't able to take anything with me. I thought about going back again but they updated their security measures so…."

Tamsin rolled her eyes. "So those things are still in the evidence room."

"I guess..." Bo murmured.

Tamsin nodded. "This journal, did you get a good look at it?"

"Oh I got a good look at it alright? But, like I said, I couldn't read it."

"Do you remember the pattern on the journal cover?"

"Yeah, I think it was some sort of flower," Bo said. "A blue lotus or something."

"A blue lotus? Are you sure?" Tamsin frowned hard.

"Yeah, I think so. Why? Is it someone you know?"

"It's more like, it's someone every fucking Huntress knows," Tamsin replied. "The blue lotus...two Huntresses have used that as their blood rune pattern. They were twins. They were so famous in the Guild that no one even remembers their real names. People just call them by their code names, Isis and Nephthys."

"Why were they so famous?"

"They were the first Huntresses ever. They killed countless Vampires. Isis was the one who killed the Vamp Queen. She went missing after that...and Nephthys left the Guild looking for her. Can't believe that she ended up dead here in this small town...I wonder what she was after...we need to get that evidence box."


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N：Went to Clexacon last weekend and had breakfast with Rachel Skarsten! It was a lot of fun!**

 **Hope everyone likes this chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 15

Tamsin shoved two boxes into the back seat of Bo's car. She threw herself into the passenger seat and winked at Bo. "Mission accomplished," she announced.

Bo gaped at her, then at the boxes. The tag on the front side of the box on the bottom apparently had suffered some hot coffee splash and had turned dark brown, but the case number, the location and the date of the case were still readable. She did recognize that case number. It belonged to the unsolved murder of the dead Huntress. The box on top seemed tattered, with a ripped corner. The case number tag in front of it somehow had an old shoe print, like someone had carelessly shoved it with their foot. She recognized that case number as well. It belonged to the unsolved murder of her family.

"How the hell did you make them give you these two evidence boxes?" Bo asked.

"I went in and told them that I needed everything they had on these two cases, because they might be connected to a high profile serial killer case I'm working on," Tamsin shrugged.

"And what might this _high profile serial killer case_ be?" Bo frowned hard as she raised her voice.

"A case that doesn't exist?" Tamsin smirked.

"And they just gave you everything like that?" Bo exclaimed. "Without even verifying?"

"It's called the Huntress privilege, sweetheart," Tamsin said with a cocky voice as she gently pinched the tip of Bo's nose. "When a Huntress requests info on a Vamp related case, the local law enforcement must comply. Besides, these cases were like fifty years old. They are not gonna need any of these ever."

"That is so unfair!" Bo protested as she started the car. "When I went in asking about the updates, I had to fill out a lot of paperwork just to speak with the person who was in charge. I talked to her for like five minutes and she asked me to submit a shit ton of information again. Eight weeks later, they sent me a text message saying that my request has been denied. They didn't even bother to give me a call or tell me why!"

Tamsin chuckled. "Whatever," she shrugged. "Now we have everything here, in these two boxes."

Bo glanced at the boxes. Tamsin's comment, and those things inside those two boxes, somehow gave Bo a sore pinch on her heart. The pain of losing her family and the terror of having become a Vampire once again roared inside her. It had been 52 years, and she still didn't have an answer.

That sore pinch, though, wasn't just for her family. It was for Nephthys too. She had never know the lady, but in Tamsin's brief description Nephthys sounded like a legendary Huntress. She probably had had a glorious life, yet that glorious life ended here, in this small town. No one knew who had killed her. No one knew why. No one even knew her name. All she had left, was a box of things that once belonged to her, and a nameless grave in a public cemetery where all John Does in town were buried...

"Hey, you wanna...maybe go visit Nephthys' grave before heading back?" Bo asked Tamsin hesitantly.

"sure, why not?"

* * *

Off the main roads and far away from the town center, Bo's car bumped up and down along the dirt road. The farm lands, once grew cotton and corn, now grew dandelions, clovers and crabgrass. Small patches of lands were enclosed by barbed wire fences. Some of them were filled with hay rolls, tall grass and fire ant hills, while the others had cows. Those big, docile animals lazily watched Bo's car go by while resting in the shadow of the trees.

They drove by a gas station, which only had two pumps and a hand written price board. Behind the pumps there was a small store. Under its "OPEN" sign, it said "Lottery tickets sold here". The owner of the place, who sat beside the door with a rifle beside him, narrowed his eyes at Bo's car. He cautiously watched them the entire time while chugging down a can of beer.

"See? That dude has a rifle," Bo said to Tamsin teasingly.

Tamsin snorted. "So? Like that could stop either of us."

"Well it might if it was a Huntress who was holding it," Bo said. "Back there in that old factory, if those Huntress bitches had chosen guns or other ranged weapons, they would have killed me before I could get to them."

Tamsin rolled her eyes and shook her head. "It's not that simple, okay? Huntresses prefer melee weapons for a reason."

"What might that reason be then?" Bo asked curiously.

"It's all about Huntress power. In order to make a weapon lethal to Vamps, we charge it with our power. The thing about our power is that the further the weapon is physically away from us, the weaker it gets. When I use a knife, it's in my hand. When I use a gun, the bullet that actually carries the killing power is several feet away from me. Understand?"

"But, you have guns," Bo pointed out. "Some of the chicks who kidnapped you had guns too."

"They are more like backup weapons. Don't get me wrong, sweetheart. You get shot, it's gonna hurt like a motherfucker, but it's rarely life threatening unless it's close range," Tamsin explained. "I don't know what the deal was with that young chick back there with two revolvers. She might be too dumb to know the difference, or her power might just be for guns."

"Her power...is for guns?" Bo frowned, beyond confused.

"Every Huntress' power is a bit different," Tamsin elaborated. "Everyone seems to have something that she utilizes better than all other weapons. For me, it's claymore."

"The claymore I rescued from the ash of your RV?" Bo asked.

"Well, any claymore," Tamsin answered, "but things like short swords, hunting knives, and daggers would work for me just as well. I prefer hunting knives because they are easy to find and easy to carry. Guns are my back up weapon, and one good thing about them is that it'll hurt jackasses that are not Vamps just as bad."

"So you can't do other weapons?"

"I can, but it won't be as deadly. When we...when we were recruited, we'd each go through tests to find the ultimate weapon. Sometimes, they say that it's the weapon that chooses you...anyway, each Huntress has a favorite weapon, like Bramble-"

"Bramble?" Bo frowned.

"The one who left you the cool tattoo on your neck," Tamsin explained as she ran the back of her index finger along the scar on Bo's neck. Her heart would still tremble whenever she saw or touch that piece of skin. "Her name's Jessa but Bramble is her code name. She could only do soft metal things like garrotes and chains."

"Yeah, what's with all the code names? Do you get to pick your own or do you just get that from the...Guild?"

"You get it from the Guild, but it always has something to do with who you are, what your power is like, or where you are from. You've met Alexa. Her code name is Athena, because she was from the Mediterranean area and she keeps little owls as her pets and companions. Code names like Blood Hound or other animals are probably self explanatory."

"Why do they call you Valkyrie then?" Bo asked. "That's from Norse mythology, right?"

"Yeah, that's from Norse mythology. I got that code name because I was from the Scandinavian area and I'm good with a wide range of weapons. Back in the old days, I was good with horse too," Tamsin said. It was the first time she had shared her personal information with someone who wasn't from the Guild, and the subtle smile on Bo's face made her heart flutter.

Bo wanted to ask more Huntress related questions, but she had to slow down when they were approaching the public cemetery in which Nephthys was buried.

Bo parked the car on the side of the road and pointed at the small fenced area in front of them."Here we are."

Tamsin got out of the car and scanned the place. Among the weeds and overgrown shrubs, there was a poorly maintained cemetery. Half of it was domed by a huge weeping willow tree. The long, soft branches hung languidly over a handful of tombstones, including a cross shaped one. That tomb stone had a wild rose bush climbing along its side with vigorous, pink blossoms.

"Of course..." Tamsin murmured as she stared at those roses. Under the usual sweet scent of wild roses, there was something bitter lurking. It reminded her the night she first came to this town. That night she encountered a young man escaping from the Ghouls. That young man had a cheap cross with dried wild rose inside, which seemed to have made the Ghouls hesitate briefly. Those were the same wild roses. They had the same bitter smell, like a lingering, painful soul.

A story she had heard a long time ago came to her. It was a tale, a rumor, something being passed down by generations of Huntresses. It said that the wild flowers growing on a Huntress' grave was part of her soul, and it would keep the Ghouls and Vampires away.

 _Right._ Tamsin thought as she walked over to the grave. _Maybe it was the thing in our blood. Those fuckers just fucking hate that smell._

She got down on one knee slowly as she stared into the empty name plate on the tombstone. Gently brushed the dirt and foliage off the pale stone piece, she whispered,"Yiv maieki ea'isil, Reveria (Rest in peace, Ma'am)."

"Do you know her? I mean, like in person?" Bo asked curiously. The sadness in Tamsin's eyes were brief but genuine. It somehow hurt her a little.

"Not really..." Tamsin shook her head. "She had left the Guild long before I joined it. I kept hearing stories of her and her sister, like how they killed some high profile Vamp Lord and how they magically escaped a dark dungeon...They were like living legends, you know. Althoug, I did see her at the head quarter once."

"You did?"

"Yeah, a few years after I joined the Guild, I got an assignment and was sent there to retrieve something. When I got out of the building, I saw her there. I mean, I didn't know it was her, until I noticed her blood rune...She was there, standing outside the building, about to get into a run down pickup. She wasn't like what I had pictured, you know. She looked normal, and..." Tamsin trailed off as she recalled that scene, Nephthys standing beside an old pickup truck. The setting sun was behind her, making the entire sky looking like someone had spilled blood all over. At that particular moment, she saw something flickering in that elder Huntress' eyes. Something she couldn't quite understand back then, but as the time went by she quickly learned the name of that look...

"And?" Bo asked as she gently placed her right hand on Tamsin's shoulder.

"She looked...lonely," Tamsin said softly. As that word left her, a dull pain came to her. For a moment, she wasn't even sure if she was talking about Nephthys, or herself.

She put her hand on Bo's and squeezed those cold fingers gently. The warm sun, the blooming wild roses, and those soft flickers in Bo's eyes, they seemed to have given her a new life.

* * *

They went back to Bo's place afterwards. Tamsin bit back her pains as she carried both boxes into Bo's apartment (even though Bo offered to help). After putting them down on the coffee table, she immediately took some pain killer. She downed a glass of water and sprawled over the couch while gasping slightly.

"The trip wore you out?" Bo teasing as she sat down beside Tamsin.

Tamsin rolled her eyes. "Don't be too cheeky. Check the box and see if the journal is still in there, will you?"

Bo pulled the box towards her and started to take things out. The first and the largest thing that she took out was a long, heavy box. The tag on it had been torn off, and the box itself had already start falling apart.

Bo opened it carefully and found a weapon inside. It looked like a machete but its blade was curvy. Having been kept in a box for years, rust crept up along the sides. In the center of the pommel, there was a blood rune with a lotus pattern. It had turned dark gray, like an insignia made of dry clay.

Tamsin took it over and ran the side of her fingers along the side of the blade. "It's her khopesh..." she murmured. "She had this on her when I saw her that day..."

Bo nodded as she continued taking things out of the box. There were a few plastic bags containing jewelries, an empty wallet, small bills of cash, coins, casino chips, a rusty compass, bottles of herb powder, water bottle, a tattered road map...Among them there was a pendent with the same lotus pattern.

Bo kept digging down. She found a big bag holding an empty knapsack. The knapsack had some blood on its side. Another big bag held a few pieces of clothes, all drenched in blood.

At the bottom of the box, on top of case file folders, there was the evidence bag with Nephthys' journal. The journal book was heavy, with a tattered, black leather cover. The cover had a hand stamped Egyptian lotus. Between the pages there were random items like train tickets, convenience store receipts, foreign post stamps and even dried flowers. Those things had made the journal book so thick that a rubber band had to be placed their to hold it close.

"May I?" Tamsin took the journal book from Bo and placed it on her knee. She rubbed her palm against the leather cover, and the lotus glowed, as if it was blooming all of a sudden.

Tamsin found the map that Bo had mentioned after she removed the leather cover. It was drawn on a piece of old parchment paper with dark ink. At the top left corner there was a wind rose. A tag read "Somerset" had been written beneath it. In the middle there were lines as roads, wavy patterns as rivers and lakes, triangles as the mountains and small tree clusters as woods and forests. Among those small triangles, there was a cave entrance that had been circled. Someone circled it several times with a red ink. Under it that person wrote: Vamp Queen's grave. Under the map, there was a short message written in Huntress language.

"So this is how you figured out where the Vamp Queen's grave was, huh?" Tamsin murmured as she examined the parchment paper.

"Yeah, and I did some research. The Vamp Queen was last seen somewhere near Somerset. I figured since this map was from a Huntress, it was probably legit. Back then I thought she was probably looking for her grave too, since many people were doing that," Bo explained. "What does that message say?"

"Tia, I am sorry. I really am. This is my farewell to you. Long live the sisterhood. Rai," Tamsin translated.

"Who's Tia? Who is Rai?" Bo frowned.

"Tia is Nephtys. Rai is Isis," Tamsin explained. "So...it looks like Rai wrote this message. I wonder why she'd say that it was her farewell to her..."

"Maybe something happened to her, and she was dying?"

"Maybe...but if Nephthys has gotten this message, why would she be looking for her the whole time?" Tamsin frowned as she flipped the parchment paper over. On the back of it, she found a broken wax seal that had a lotus pattern. A piece of string was buried in the wax, which looked like someone had tied the parchment paper up and sealed with wax. A small piece of dark feather was also embedded in the wax.

Tamsin let the string coil around her index finger as she examined the wax seal. "Hmmm, I wonder if Nephthys didn't get this map until many years later," she murmured.

"So you are saying that the message was sent to her many years after it has been written?"

"Well...the Vamp Queen died like 600 years ago. Back then everything was very old school. There was no email or phones, only snail mail. The Guild had these...these fiends called blood ravens as the messengers. You would burn a feather to summon them, and they would show up and deliver the message for you. No matter what happened to them, they would always deliver, but sometimes, it would take them a long time to do that."

"So, Isis killed the Vamp Queen, and then she sent her sister this map with her farewell message. Her sister didn't get it, and kept looking for her until she received this. But...I thought you said that Nephthys had been looking for her the whole time?"

"As far as I know, she had never stopped looking," Tamsin replied. "Maybe...maybe when Isis wrote this message she thought she'd die but she didn't. She left Somerset for some other business, and Nephthys didn't go looking for her until after she got her message. When Nephthys arrived at Somerset, Isis was already gone. Nephthys had never found her so she kept looking."

"That doesn't make sense. If I were Isis, I'd for sure let my sister know that I was still alive, considering I had sent her a farewell message before," Bo pointed out.

"I know, and I wonder why Nephthys would come to this small town," Tamsin said.

"Maybe she was chasing the Vamp who killed my family? I mean, killers like that wouldn't just come in and kill one family and then disappear, right? He must have done it somewhere else and she was after him?"

"Well..." Tamsin hummed. "I guess it's possible. Maybe she happened to witness his murders and decided to bring him down. I just...I don't know...I mean, it's just...it doesn't sound like her."

"What do you mean?"

"Back in the old days, Nephthys was like one of the major gossip topics in the Guild. The stories I've heard were like...Isis went after the Vamp Queen, and killed her, but she had never returned. In fear of her death, or worse, Nephthys went to look for her, but she couldn't find her. She just kept searching, for years and years, until finding Isis had become the only purpose of her life. When the Guild raised questions about her ability of doing her job as a Huntress, she broke her ties with the Guild completely and left...I don't know if she'd really decide to go after some killer Vampire just because it was the right thing to do, not when she was still looking for her sister."

"Or, maybe she did find her sister. I mean, Rai did say that it was her farewell. What if the fight with the Vamp Queen got her injured so badly that she never made it? Maybe Nephthys found her body somewhere in Somerset, and that was the end of her search. After that, she decided to chase down killer Vampires instead?" Bo said.

Tamsin hesitantly shook her head with a big frown. "It's just hard for me to believe that she'd choose not to bring Isis' body back. She was one of those Huntresses who'd always do things the old ways. In the old days, when a Huntress falls, her body would always be brought back and buried with honor. If she did find her body, why keep it as a secret?"

"Maybe she had told someone in the Guild, but they just kept their mouth shut?"

"Possible, but why?" Tamsin frowned hard. After pondering for a while, she asked, "Do you really not remember what she might have told you when you met her?"

Bo shook her head. "I tried, I really tried, but I don't remember anything. I just never thought it would be something important until that detective told me who she was and why she might have come to town. They tried several tricks, like asking me to close my eyes and put myself back to where the conversation had taken place, but nothing worked."

Tamsin sighed. "I guess let's just look at her journal first."

She opened the journal and flipped to the last page of it. She started to read, but was disappointed to find out that it was just a recipe of some herb remedy used to treat Ghoul bites. She started to flip the pages backwards, until she stopped at one page.

"I found the Queen's body in the cave in Somerset," she read slowly. for some of the writings were nearby illegible. "Great, the rest of the page was totally messed up."

She showed Bo the page, where the rest of the page looked like it had been drenched in some type of clear liquid. Whatever Nephthys had written down was completely gone.

Bo sighed. "What did she do afterwards then?"

"...was at Guild, but the sisterhood she was willing to give up her life for was long gone...had a difficult conversation with the council, wait..."

"What?"

"That must be the day I saw her. She must have gone to the head quarter to talk to the high level bitches...Maybe she told them about the Vamp Queen's body, or her sister's message, but they didn't care..."

"The Guild didn't care if one of them had died?"

"The Guild was going through some rough changes around that time. The old leaders and the new leaders, it was a shitstorm. Maybe they were too busy trying to be asshats and they just couldn't care less about anything else."

"Okay...what did she do next?"

"Visited a few old acquaintances," Tamsin continued reading, "visited the blacksmith and the apothecary...went to the old library...huh."

"What? Something wrong with the library?"

"No," Tamsin shook her head, and her eyebrows were knotted tightly. "After she visited the old library, she wrote, I must go to Thornebrook."

"Thornebrook? That's the name of this town," Bo said, a little surprised. "Why must she come here? Did she know that the killer was coming this way or something?"

"She did not say that anywhere in her journal," Tamsin said as she flipped the page over and saw that herb remedy recipe again. "Well, that's all she wrote. I have no idea why she must come here."

"So we are back to square one?"

"Not quite," Tamsin said. "There is one thing that we can do, before we head back to the Vamp Queen's grave again."

"Care to tell me what it might be?"

"Well, we can get you to remember that little conversation between you and her first," Tamsin said.

"Yeah, what are you proposing? 'Cause for sure close my eyes and think harder won't work."

"I might know a chick who has secret recipes of truth serums" Tamsin smirked. "Lucky for you, I think she kind of has this thing for cute brunettes.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Bo glanced at the poster on the wall in front of her. In it, there was a grinning Vampire with shiny white teeth and sparkling fangs. In her hands, she held a box of teeth whitening strips designed specifically for Vampires.

Bo rolled her eyes and turned to the left. Another poster was there, advertising how important it was for young Vampire kids to learn to floss, to brush their teeth and to visit dentists regularly.

Bo looked down to her side, where there was a small table. On it, there were magazines, and a box of coupons ("$30 off your first visit" or "$50 cleaning. Usable only once").

She turned to Tamsin, who sat right next to her. The blonde seemed to have completely been drawn to the gun/hunting magazine that she was reading, and she didn't respond to Bo's stare at all.

Bo picked up a magazine herself, and tried a few pages of dry Vampire celebrity gossips. They were beyond boring, but a page of an ad about a restaurant serving warm drinks caught her attention. It made her throat dry.

Bo cleared her throat uncomfortably as she nudged Tamsin.

"Whaaaat?" Tamsin answered impatiently while flipping through her magazine.

"Why are we here again?" Bo asked in a whisper.

"We are here to see the dentist, like I told you ten minutes ago," Tamsin replied lazily.

"No, you told me that we are here to get that serum from...from someone," Bo said.

"Yeah, with that someone being the dentist," Tamsin said. "Now be a good little Vamp, stop bugging me and watch some TV." She raised her chin towards a small, wall mounted TV to their right.

The TV was playing an animated movie that explained the procedure of teeth cleaning. It emphasized the importance of the caring for Vampire fangs.

Bo was about to say something, but before she did, she heard a vague, muffled cry of pain coming from inside.

The receptionist gave everyone who was in the waiting room a comforting smile. Although, it didn't really calm the anxiety. An old lady sitting at the corner muttered something while tightening her pashmina around her shoulder. Beside her, a young father tried to convince his daughter, who seemed to be frightened by the painful cry, that it wouldn't hurt at all when it was her turn.

"Don't worry, sweetheart," Tamsin leaned in and whispered to Bo. "I'll make sure that she's very, very gentle with you."

* * *

A nurse had finally called Bo's name. The moment he saw Bo standing up, he gave her a big smile - so perfect that Bo suspected that every employee here had received some sort of training on how to show off their beautiful teeth whenever they smiled.

"Follow me please," he said to her before he led the way into a small patient room. He politely let her and Tamsin sit down, before he told them, "she'll be with you shortly, okay?"

Bo nodded, and the nurse left the room.

"I'm gonna ask you again, Tamsin. What are we doing here?" Bo hissed after discovering that she was in a room where a dentist would examine their patients.

"We are here for the serum. It'll help you remember things. How many time do I have to repeat it, hmmm?" Tamsin said to her absentmindedly. She was standing in front of the desk, where a set of plastic Vampire dental model was displayed. All the teeth, including the fangs, could be pulled out, and Tamsin pulled them out one by one playfully.

"Hey, stop playing with that and tell me where the dentist is," Bo protested.

"She's probably with other patients right now," Tamsin said. "You gotta wait for your turn, sweetheart."

"I have to wait for the serum?" Bo frowned.

"Well, a, the dentist is a real dentist who, has a shit ton of patients everyday, and b. she doesn't have a whole lot of serum sitting in her refrigerator waiting, so yeah, you have to wait for her to come in and make you the serum," Tamsin said as she plugged all the teeth back into their sockets.

"Waiting is fine, I just...I don't have to go through any of the dental stuff to-"

"Why? Are you scared of getting your evil little fangs checked?"

"I'm not scared. I just don't like someone poking into my gum with a tool that I couldn't even name," Bo grunted. "Besides, my fangs are sensitive..."

Tamsin chuckled as she glanced at Bo's pointy fangs. They were sensitive as hell, whenever she ran her tongue over them, Bo would shiver...

"So...this...this serum, it will work, right? It'll help me remember?" Bo asked.

Before Tamsin could answer her, the door to the room was opened. A petite woman walked in. She was wearing a tattered lab coat. Under it there was a set of navy scrub. Her thick, dark hair was pulled into a tight bun behind her head. She, too, had a perfect smile with sparkling teeth, as sparkling as her dark eyes. She'd be the perfect poster dentist, should any hospital ad need one, Bo thought.

The dentist tilted her head slightly to the side as she watched Tamsin fondling with the dental model. She noticed that subtly tremor in Tamsin's left arm whenever she lift it. She also noticed that Tamsin looked slightly pale.

"You look like shit," she commented. "Did someone finally get to you and kicked your ass for good?" She asked, before turning to Bo with a frown. "Don't tell me it was her."

"Riiight," Tamsin drawled. "Just some pure bad luck. Ran into the little bitch a few days ago."

"Mel finally found you again, huh?"

"She sure did," Tamsin shrugged. She had finally put all the teeth back in place, and she turned around. After giving the woman a smirk, she said,"I see you are doing wonderful, torturing Vamps for a living."

"Oh yes, I am. I get a big, fat paycheck for pulling out the teeth from the Vamps, and hey, they even thank me afterwards," the woman shrugged.

Tamsin shook her head slightly. "I need a serum."

"For whom?"

Instead of answering her with words, Tamsin tilted her head towards Bo.

"And who is she?" The woman asked as she boldly moved her eyes up and down along Bo's body and face.

"A client," Tamsin snorted.

The woman shrugged. "And how would you like to pay, cash or credit card?"

Tamsin gave her a big, fake smile, before she turned to Bo and asked, "How would you like to pay, sweetheart, cash or credit card?"

"Either one's fine with me," Bo said. "How much is it?"

"Well, you are cute, and since you come with Tamsin, I'll go ahead and give you the friend and family price."

"Oh, that's very nice of you. What is it gonna be?"

"800 dollars."

"Wow, your serum surely isn't cheap," Bo replied. "Can't you just bill my insurance or something?"

"I can, but in order to do that I'll have to file a bunch of paperwork requesting a prior-authorization from your insurance, which probably takes two weeks or so if you are lucky. So, I guess the question is, how soon do you need it?"

"She needs it asap," Tamsin said.

"Then it's gonna be 800 dollars," the woman gave Bo a professional smile.

Bo rolled her eyes. "Your serum better works," she grunted.

"My serum always works," the woman said slowly and firmly.

"Okay, then," Bo said. "Just give us the serum and we'll be out of your way. Also, if you are charging me 800 dollars for it, at least tell me your name."

"It's Oana," the woman winked at Bo. "Also known as Hemlock from the Huntress Guild."

"You are a Huntress?!" Bo exclaimed. A Huntress who is also a Vampire dentist? That's impossible...She thought.

"Well, a girl gotta make a living, right?" Oana shrugged. "What job could possibly be better than listening to Vamps scream when I pull their teeth out?"

"Do any of your clients know that you are a Huntress?" Bo asked curiously.

"Not a single clue," Oana said simply. "And if you ask me one more question I'm gonna start charging you."

"Fine, just give us the serum and you can go back charging your real patients," Bo replied.

Oana gave Bo a teasing smile as walked to the cabinet in the corner. She opened the glass door and reached her hand in. Bo couldn't see what she was doing but she did hear a click. Then, the cabinet slowly and quietly slid to the side, revealing a secret compartment in the wall behind.

Inside the compartment, there was four levels of metal shelves. The top level had a row of bottles, each containing different contents. They all had labels on but Bo couldn't read any of them, for they were written in the Huntress language.

The second level held sacs and small bags. Bo noticed that not all bags were made of the same material. Some were leather, while others were cloth. There were even a couple of ziploc bags. They all had tags written in the Huntress language as well.

The third level had a collection of tools: a small scale, several sets of mortar and pestle made of different materials, a set of silver knives, five nested scoops, a small burner, and a set of glass tools similar to something a chemist would use for experiments...

The bottom level had a couple of tattered, moldy journal books, and several empty glass jars of different sizes.

Oana moved her fingers back and forth between those empty jars. At one point she picked up one that would hold approximately 10oz, but she changed her mind and picked up a much smaller one. She raised it to her nose and sniffed. After grimacing, she went to wash it under the running water.

After having thoroughly washed it, Oana wiped it clean and set it on the desk to dry. She went back to the secret compartment and took off a leather sac and a burlap bag.

She placed both bags on the desk, and picked up the small, brown leather sac first. She opened it, and took out one piece of saw toothed leaf. She ruffled it until it crumbled and bruised, before she put it into the empty jar.

From the burlap bag, she took out two small, half withered flowers. She pulled the petals off, and threw exactly seventeen of them into the jar. The leaf seemed to instantly react with the petals, making them look fresher and their purple color more vibrant.

Oana put the two bags back, and took out a bottle of pale yellow crystals. She took two big pieces out with tweezers, and weighed them on the scale. Then, she put one of them back to the bottle and chose a smaller piece instead. When she noticed Bo's curious gaze, she smirked and handed Bo a big piece.

Bo cautiously examined it, before she hesitantly put it into her mouth. It was a piece of rock sugar, and underneath the lighthearted sweetness, there was a strong, metallic kick. Somehow, it reminded her the taste of fresh blood, and she reveled in it.

"Someone has a sweet tooth," Oana commented teasingly as she put the rock sugar bottle back on the shelf.

She opened another bottle, taking out a small, dark twig. With a small silver knife she cut it into pieces. She put every single piece into the jar. Next, she opened a big bottle and took out a piece of fruit which was covered in a layer of glossy scales. She pried four pieces off, but paused there. "Wait, I think I'm gonna need this..." she murmured as she turned around and put them into an agate mortar.

She placed the mortar on the desk, and started adding ingredient into it: a tiny scoop of small, green seeds, a piece of charred talon, one half an inch long dry mushroom, three drops of a thick, cyan liquid...She mashed them repeatedly until the content inside had become a small pile of small, shiny crystals. She poured the crystals into the bottle.

Last, she picked up a pair of scissors and told Bo, "I'm gonna need a lock of your hair."

"Oh...s-sure," Bo nodded.

Oana leaned in (so close that it suddenly made Bo a little uncomfortable) and ran the back of her middle finger along the soft locks that hugged Bo's cheek. She separately a small lock and secured it between her fingers. "So soft and silky..." she whispered as she gently cut it off.

Oana put Bo's hair into the jar, and it magically melted. Other things in the jar started to melt and dissolve as well. Small bubbles foamed up, and eventually everything turned into completely transparent liquid.

Oana put a cap on the jar and hand it to Bo. "There you go."

"How...ummm...how do I take it?"

"You just chug it down when you are ready," Oana explained. "Store it in a cooler or your fridge, like you would store bagged blood. Oh right, blood."

"What about it?"

"Before you drink this, you want to get plenty of fresh blood."

"Oh...does it have to be fresh? I mean, I still have a lot of cold bags."

"You'll feel very exhausted after the whole oh-I-remember-now process, consumed, heavy headaches, sweating, all sorts of things. Fresh blood is the best way to prepare yourself for that. Just drink as much as you can before taking the serum, okay?"

"Sure..." Bo murmured absentmindedly as she glanced at Tamsin's neck. The bite marks she had made were long gone, but that pulse reminded her how sweet that blood was. Her throat was dry again. Feeling her cheeks burning, she lowered her head pretending that she was examining the bottle of serum in her hand.

"You are all set. Don't forget to pay at the checkout. Have a nice day," Oana singsonged. Then, she turned to Tamsin and said, "you wanna grab a drink tonight or something?"

"You buying?" Tamsin raised her eyebrows.

"No, Alexa is," Oana said.

"Alexa's in town?" Tamsin frowned.

"Flew in two days ago. Working on some high profile case," Oana said. "She needs an elixir from me, so I'm meeting her tonight."

"She's working on a high profile case here?" Tamsin asked. "Gee, what does this town have other than over friendly Vamps and crowded restaurants?"

"No idea, and to be honest I don't really care either," Oana shrugged. "She mentioned something about a guy with a scar or whatever."

"Hey, are we leaving or what?" Bo interrupted them impatiently.

Tamsin rolled her eyes. "I gotta go."

"Taking orders from a Vamp, huh? She must have cut you a really fat check," Oana teased, and got a cold glare from Tamsin. "Anyway, if you want to join us, catching up, offering Alexa a helping hand or something...we'll be at Feather's-"

"I'll pass," Tamsin snorted. "I got enough shit on my plate already."

"So...I guess I'm gonna go to one of those Vampire joints nearby first and get me some blood," Bo announced after Tamsin got into the car.

Tamsin raised her eyebrows and stared at Bo. "You are kidding, right?"

"No, I'm serious. Why would I be kidding? She said that I need to get some blood before I drink this thing," Bo said.

"And the reason you can't get your warm drink from me is...?" Tamsin crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"You have just recovered from your injuries, Tamsin," Bo argued. "I mean, You can't even drive on your own right now."

"That's cuz I'm lazy and I just enjoy having a little Vamp driving me around," Tamsin scrunched her nose at Bo. "A mouthful of blood won't hurt me, Bo."

"I don't think that's a good idea. It's probably better if I get it from the bars," Bo said weakly.

Tamsin frowned at the subtle hesitation in Bo's voice. She leaned in and stared into those warm browns. "Something's bothering you?" she pointed out as she gently placed a hand on Bo's cheek. She caressed those soft, cold lips with her thumb, and watched Bo snuggle into her touch.

"It's just that..." Bo started. "Back there in that factory, I think I killed at least three Huntresses by draining their blood. I felt something inside me when I did that, like something inside me...awakened. I don't know if I-it just felt like...it just felt like I wasn't able to control myself or something."

"And yet you think it's a good idea to take the blood from some weak, stupid humans instead of me?" Tamsin snorted.

"I-I just don't want to hurt you, Tamsin," Bo murmured. And I don't want you to look at me like I'm a monster when I go full Vamp.

"Like you could hurt me..." Tamsin said softly as she laid a kiss on Bo's lips. She held the brunette in her arms and whispered to her, "we are all monsters, Bo, and I like that."

* * *

Bo licked her blood covered lips and purred. She was overwhelmed by Tamsin's blood and the quick, dirty sex they had just had, and the messy blood smudges on the smirking Huntress' neck made her shiver excitedly.

Tamsin briefly cleaned her neck with a wet paper towel. She grinned at Bo and said,"I wouldn't mind a second round, or even a third, but I think you should probably drink that serum before you are worn out."

Bo shook her head slightly and chuckled. Getting her mind off Tamsin's soft lips and skillful fingers was quite impossible for her right now, but she forced herself to focus on her mission: remembering the conversation between her and Tia.

She took a deep breath, before she opened the cap of the serum bottle and chugged it down.

It tasted like lukewarm tap water, but there was a very slight sweetness. It lingered on her tongue, lighting up her taste buds and her neurons. It reminded her every sweet things that she had ever tasted, blood, sugar, candy, fruit...the ice cold watermelon slices she had had at the beach when she was 8...huge lollipops she had had when she visited a candy store on vacation...chocolate covered strawberries dipped in fresh, warm blood...creamy, rich icing on chocolate cake...

A swirl of scent came to her as well, and she could practically taste it on the back of her tongue. The smell of melted sweet butter, black cherry jam, whipped cream, cinnamon stick and warm honey...the smell of cakes, breads and cookies...the smell of that little bakery...

She started to see colors, shapes, contours, like she was watching a TV that had a brightness level too high. As the brightness slowly reduced, she was embraced by a slightly flickering scene where she was walking through the door of a small bakery shop.

She heard the bell hanging above the door ring. What a familiar sound...Bo thought. As the sound rang in her ear, she suddenly remembered this bakery. It was a bakery shop she frequently visited when she was young. It was right beside the school bus stop, and she loved their chocolate cake...

She did visit the bakery a few days before her family's murder, and now she remembered it. She was standing there drooling over the delicious chocolate cake. It was her favorite, and that day, there was only one piece of it left.

The chubby, gray haired owner greeted her warmly. He asked her what she'd like and she pointed at the cake piece.

She watched the guy putting the cake into a box and walking to the checkout. She was about to walk over to pay for it, but someone tapped her shoulder from behind.

She turned around, and there stood a middle aged woman. She had a washed out jacket on, and a pair of dark jeans. Her boots were a bit worn out and dusty, and so was her backpack. She seemed exhausted, but at the same time, her sharp eyes looked vigilant.

"Yes?" Bo replied absentmindedly as she glanced at the bangle the woman wore on her wrist. It looked like it was made of pure gold, and its both ends were made into lotus shape. The petals were made from polished blue turquoise, red coral and some sort of deep blue gemstone...

"...can we talk for a minute?" The woman asked. Her voice was deep and low.

Bo looked at her cautiously. Being a young teenager, she had been warned repeatedly not to talk to strangers, and this woman looked a little...desperate?

"Ummm...I don't really have cash," Bo said hesitantly. "If you need some help the police station is right down the street."

"I don't need money, and I don't need those damn cops either," the woman said. "My name is Tia. I'm looking for someone. I just want to know if you have seen him or not."

"Who are you looking for?" Bo frowned hard.

"A man, of my age, well maybe slightly older than me. Tall, dark hair, skinny. He has a..." Tia ran the tip of her index finger along the side of her right cheek. "...a scar here."

Bo shook her head. "No, I don't think I've seen anyone like that."

"Think, kid," Tia urged as she grabbed Bo's arm firmly. "Are you sure you haven't seen him before? He could be anyone. He could be someone in your school. Maybe he has visited your house at some point."

"I really don't think I've ever seen someone like that," Bo said in panic as she tried to free herself.

Tia seemed to have realized that she scared Bo. She let her go and stepped back. "I really need to find this guy, okay?" She told Bo. "Are you absolutely sure that you haven't seen someone like that lately?"

"I...I'm fairly sure," Bo replied as she rubbed her arm uncomfortably. The place where Tia had gripped now burnt a little. She wanted to call for help but the bakery owner seemed to have gone to the back of the store, and there was no one but her and Tia inside the store. She thought maybe she should come up an excuse and leave, but she wasn't sure if she'd enrage the woman by doing that.

"Look, I really need to go home," she eventually pleaded. "If...if you really need help on finding someone, I think you should go to the police station."

Tia sighed and shook her head. "Your mother, she's not from here, is she?" She asked.

Surprised by that question, Bo paused. "Do you know my mom?" She asked, both curious and with caution.

"No, I don't," Tia replied. She realized that she must give Bo some explanation before probing more about her mother, and she eventually decided to give up. She gave Bo a quick nod, before she left the store.

* * *

"Whoa!" Bo jolted as she opened her eyes wide. She almost fell off the couch - it was then that she noticed that she was lying on the couch.

"It worked!" She exclaimed as she sat up. "It worked!" She repeated as she turned to Tamsin who stood beside her. "The serum, it worked! I remembered now!"

"Okay, what exactly do you remember now?"

"I was at this bakery shop," Bo said. "It was a small bakery that I used to love to go to. They'd make these amazing chocolate cakes, like the best I've ever had...anyway, I was there, and Tia came to me, asking me if I've seen a guy-"

"What guy?"

"Someone as old as her, or maybe a bit older than her? Tall, skinny...oh and she asked about my mother as well."

"Your mother?" Tamsin frowned hard, a little surprised.

"Yeah, she asked me if my mom was from here," Bo said. "That's just...strange. Why would she ask about my mom?"

"What else did she say to you?"

"Oh, that was all. She was looking for that guy, and then she asked about my mom. Then she just...left."

"That guy she was looking for, did he have a name?"

"I'm sure he did but she sure didn't tell me," Bo said.

"Did she say why she was looking for him?"

"Nope, but she seemed a little desperate," Bo replied. "Oh I think she also said that the guy she was looking for had a scar on his face. It was so weird. The way she spoke to me...it was like she was certain that I had met that guy before."

"Maybe that guy she was looking for was the killer. Maybe she knew that the killer would approach the family he targeted prior to the murder," Tamsin said. "What was the description again? Tall, skinny, middle age-"

"-a scar on his face," Bo added.

"I wonder if I could find a match using those descriptions in the system-wait..."

"What?"

"Oana said that Alexa was in town, and she was looking for a guy with a scar on his face," Tamsin murmured.

"Wait, you think that's the same guy?"

"I don't know...Maybe a drink with them at Feather's isn't a bad idea after all."


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: It's been a while! Just want to say that I am still writing! Next update shouldn't take this long...**

 **Went to Dragon Con the past weekend and met the LG cast again. They are lovely as usual!**

* * *

Chapter 17

Unlike other showy casinos of the casino district at the north eastern corner of the town, Feather's was famous for its low profile look: an old, slightly run down Byzantine style building with light blue rooftop. It didn't have a fancy musical fountain in the front like Prism did, nor did it have an 8000 square foot digital billboard on top like Elysium did. The only flashy decoration it had was a hologram feather above its tallest roof. The feather would spin slowly while periodically changing its color.

Though, the life inside it was just like the other casinos. Rounds and rounds of free drinks were served to those who sat at the tables or in front of the slot machines. Gamblers, with their minds being sucked into games that had been designed to favor the house, cheered, laughed, screamed and cried. Whenever they got tired of losing, they could go upstairs and join other doped Vampires in the parlor, where humans with warm, fresh blood would provide all kinds of services. If they were really worn out, they might catch a good night sleep in one of Feather's luxury suites located at upper levels...

Bo was a little dizzy when she walked into the main hall with Tamsin. She felt slightly oxygen deprived - maybe it was too warm inside, or maybe it was that cigarette smell in the air that she had been always loathed.

"Are they here yet?" She asked as she looked around. The loud sound effects of those slot machines exploded inside her ear and made her head spin.

Tamsin tilted her head slightly towards the corner. There was a machine named "Wheel of Fortune". It had a big, multi-color wheel on top divided into different zones of prices. Below the wheel it was a screen with rapidly rolling symbols.

In front of the machine, there sat Oana. She had a cigarette between her left index and middle finger, but she was so focused on playing the game that she didn't even bother to light it. In front of her, there was a glass with an inch of whiskey and several put out cigarette butts.

"Lost all the money you made off selling illegal shit yet?" Tamsin walked over and greeted her.

"One, I don't sell illegal shit. I sell things that I don't yet have a license for, and two, I actually made like 50 bucks before you showed up," Oana said.

"Really? Where's your 50 bucks now, hmmm?" Tamsin taunted as she pointed at the screen, where it said that it had a balance of 0.03 dollars.

Oana rolled her eyes and took out a wrinkly one-hundred-dollar bill from her purse. She put it into the machine and started playing again.

"Where's Athena?" Tamsin asked after she failed to locate Alexa inside the main hall.

"She got a call like ten minutes ago and left," Oana explained absentmindedly. "And I thought you weren't coming."

"I changed my mind," Tamsin snorted. "I figure it would be fun to spend my night throwing my hard earned cash into a machine while drinking cheap booze."

"Can't win if you don't play, Tamsin," Oana said. "Take this game for example...if you get a chance to spin the wheel up there you are in for a chance to win a million dollars."

"Right, like that shit would actually happen," Tamsin drawled.

Oana was about to say something, but she paused when she glanced at Bo who sat down in one of the chairs. "Is she okay?"

Tamsin turned to Bo. The brunette looked paler than usual. Her brows were knotted and she was distracted like something was bothering her.

"Something wrong?" Tamsin asked.

Bo shook her head weakly. She pressed her hand against her chest and took a deep breathe. She wanted to go outside and get some fresh air, but she felt worn out.

A puff of cigarette smoke came to her - it was from an upset gambler who walked passed by her. That smell sent her a strong rush of vertigo.

She thought she'd throw up at anytime now, but before she had done that, she blacked out.

"Whoa!" Tamsin exclaimed as she caught Bo in her arms before Bo collapsed on the floor. She pulled the brunette close and tapped her cheek gently. She called Bo's name a few times (and made sure that she used a rather indifferent voice so Oana wouldn't make fun of her), but Bo wasn't waking up.

"Hey! Hey!" Tamsin raised her voice a little. A few people close by turned to take a brief look, before they nonchalantly shrugged and went back to their games.

"Hey, do something, will you?" Tamsin shot Oana a cold glare and urged.

Oana sighed and moved away from her chair. She examined Bo briefly, before she furrowed her eyebrows and said, "oh no..."

"What?"

"This-this looks really bad, like really, really bad. I mean...I'm not sure if she's gonna make it..."

"What?! What's wrong with her?" Tamsin asked impatiently. Her voice started to shake a little as she realized how weak and pale Bo looked right now.

"Oh come on, Tamsin. I was just kidding!" Oana exclaimed. "Relax, it's just the serum."

"No it can't be the serum. She had it like five hours ago, and she already passed out once."

"So? Who says that the serum is just a one time thing? Obviously it's still affecting her. She's probably reliving a piece of her old memories right now."

"Are you sure?"

"No, I'm not. I'm just guessing cuz apparently someone thinks that she knows more about this serum than the maker," Oana said teasingly.

"So it's just the serum?"

"It's just the serum. She'll be in and out like this for a while, til it's completely out of her system," Oana explained. "Also, did she drink plenty of warm blood before she took it? If she didn't, the whole process is going to be very unpleasant towards the end."

Tamsin cleared her throat slightly as she ignored Oana's question. Did Bo have enough warm blood before she took the serum? Of course Bo did. Tamsin vividly remembered how she pinned Bo to the wall and forced her to take her blood while rubbing her to an orgasm. The brunette moaned into her ear while throbbing excitedly under her fingertip...

"Is Alexa gonna be back, or is she done for tonight?" She asked Oana.

Oana shrugged. "I have no idea. Why do you suddenly want to talk to her?"

"I thought you said that she needed help on finding a scar face."

"Whether she needs help or not...why are you suddenly interested?" Oana raised her eyebrows at Tamsin.

Tamsin crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Why don't you tell me whatever you know, and then I'll tell you why I'm interested?"

Oana paused her game (mainly because she had a low balance again) and turned to Tamsin. "I don't know much," she admitted. "She wouldn't tell me any details because she's not allowed to. I just know that she's looking for a scar face because he's a poi of some high profile case. She works for the head office of the Vamp Crime Unit, so I'm guessing it's a killer or something that she needs to track down."

"So she told you nothing?"

"Well, not exactly. She gave me a sketch," Oana said as she pulled out a folded paper from her purse. She handed it to Tamsin, before she went to the ATM to get some cash.

Tamsin unfolded the paper and took a glance. It was a copy of an old sketch of a man. He looked beyond ordinary. He could be anyone. The only thing noticeable was the scar on his face.

Then, she had to put the sketch down because Bo kept sliding out of the chair while being unconscious.

Tamsin sighed and sat down in the chair herself. She held Bo's waist and let her sit on her lap. With one arm around Bo's waist, she rested Bo's head against her shoulder while looking at the sketch.

Oana, who had just gotten a stack of cash from the ATM, whistled at how Tamsin was holding Bo.

"What? I can't put her on the floor." Tamsin argued weakly. "And I don't think I've seen this guy before."

"You know, they have honeymoon suites upstairs," Oana said with a grin.

Tamsin rolled her eyes. "When is she gonna wake up?" She grunted.

"I don't know, but it shouldn't take long. Hey, you are in a casino, have some fun while waiting, okay?"

"Sorry I think I'd prefer keeping all my money instead of throwing them away," Tamsin said. "Besides, there's no point for me to stay if Alexa is already gone."

"You are leaving?"

"Gotta take her home," Tamsin said as she glanced at Bo again. "Even if Alexa was here right now, this dumb Vamp won't be able to talk..."

"She knows something about Sir Scarface?"

Tamsin didn't answer her question. "I've leaving," she announced simply.

Oana nodded slightly. "Well..." she started hesitantly. "I have no idea what that cute Vamp of yours knows, but..."

"But?"

"I'd watch what I tell Alexa if I were you," Oana said to Tamsin with her voice lowered.

Tamsin frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You know, you and I, we got out of the Vamp hunting business a long time ago, but Alexa...she never did," Oana said.

"Do you know something?" Tamsin narrowed her eyes.

"Aside from she's devoted to find this guy, nope," Oana answered. "Honestly, I don't really want to know. I'm perfectly happy in my little bubble."

Tamsin nodded in silence while frowning.

"Anyway, have fun with that little Vamp of yours. She probably needs a lot of TLC when she wakes up, ya know."

"Whatever," Tamsin drawled before she left while carrying Bo with her.

* * *

Bo heard the loud banging sound. It was the wooden window panels being pushed into the wall by the strong gust. The air was thick and still. She could barely breathe.

She heard the thunder afar. It made her dizzy. In daze, she opened her eyes.

She found herself inside the old house in which she and her family had lived. She sat up in bed and looked around. Everything seemed the same to her. The teddy bear on the nightstand was missing a shirt button. The blossom-shaped ceiling light had one light bulb slightly dimmer than the other three. The door to the closet wouldn't close completely because of the broken old lock, and the loose handle looked like a crooked brow. The smudge under the window was still there - it looked like a tiny woman sitting under a tree.

The ceiling fan was on. It hummed while spinning. It had been doing that for a long, long time. Her parents had talked about repairing it or maybe replacing it, but had never really gotten the time to do it. Bo found it strange that it sounded like its volume had suddenly increased a lot. She had learned to ignore it but all of a sudden she couldn't not hear it.

She felt sick. She felt heavy. She felt...exhausted and thirsty. She was sweaty, weak and disturbed. She was confused.

She got off her bed and stumbled downstairs. It scared her that her body suddenly no longer felt like her own. She could barely control her limbs, and she kept knocking over things or running into them.

As she was walking down the stairs, the lightning flashed. The bright light hurt her eyes so much that it almost killed them.

Groaning in pain, she squinted her eyes hard while staggering down. Her vision kept altering between two stages: where it had gone completely blank due to the lightning, or it was unbelievably clear and sharp even when it was pitch dark.

 _What the hell is wrong with me?_ She wondered as she got into the bathroom right beside the staircase. She flipped the light switch in reflex, and the light made her groan again.

After a long, painful adjustment, she found herself staring into the mirror. It had everything in there, everything except her.

She thought she was having a dream of some kind. She started to clean the mirror over and over, until she realized that the mirror no longer would show her reflection.

She wondered how it could happen while fighting against the dizziness. Then, something suddenly occurred to her. She remembered that someone had told her that Vampires couldn't use regular mirrors, because they couldn't see themselves in it.

She swallowed hard as she opened her mouth a little and touched her gum with her fingers. She got fangs. Then, she put her shaky hand against her chest. She felt no heartbeat, no pulse, nothing.

Having no idea how she had suddenly turned into a Vampire, she started to shudder. Fear made her feel cold.

She remember that fear. That fear, it brought back all her memories.

She remembered the storm outside. She remembered the hot air, the smell of the rain, and the weeping night wind. She remembered the terror of discovering her fangs for the first time. She remembered the irresistible thirst clawing her throat.

She remembered that smell in the air. The smell of fresh, warm blood. It made her so excited, and it chilled her spine.

She stumbled out, into the living room, and then upstairs again. She was panting. Her stomach was clenching. Her eyes were in pain and her heart...well, it was no longer beating.

It was like watching a movie, an extremely terrifying one. In terror she relived everything that forever changed her.

She went to her parents' room, and found their dead bodies in bed. Their eyes were wide open. Her father still had his arm around her mother, like he was protecting her. They each had a set of messy, fresh bite marks on their necks. Blood was still dribbling down from their wounds, leaving big stains on the sheets.

The initial shock paralyzed Bo. She just stood there and stared at them, until she started to shake and sob. She yelled, whimpered and scrabbled. She tried to perform basic CPR - she had learned it at school - but they were long gone.

She stumbled out from her parents' bedroom, trying to warn her sister and two of her friends who had come to their house for a sleepover. She found them in the bedroom next door. They were all sitting on the floor against the wall in their pajamas. Each of them had a set of bite marks on their necks. Their faces were pale, for their blood had been drained. The last moment of terror froze their wide open eyes. The TV in the room was still on, and that dim light made three dead faces looking like ghosts.

Bo tried CPR again, and again. She tried everything she could come up with as a desperate, frightened 12 year-old, hoping that she could save one of them, any of them.

It was just a piece of memory. It was something that had happened over fifty years ago. Bo was aware of that, or at least a part of her was. She knew what was going to happen next and what she'd encounter. She knew she had no way to stop any of it from happening. She knew that from this moment on, she'd be broken, shattered into pieces and no longer whole, and that broke her heart.

She eventually figured that she'd call the police, but none of the phones were working. She thought maybe she'd go out and get help from the neighbors, but fear prevented her from leaving the house. She went back to her parents' room and curled up in the small space between the nightstand and the wall, before she started to cry.

At some point, when she briefly stopped crying because she needed to breathe, she heard a creak coming from the stairs.

Spooked, she got into the closet and closed the door. She buried herself under a pile of old blankets and started to shake. She listened, while holding herself tightly.

Someone was walking upstairs, slowly and quietly. She could smell him. She could smell that strong cigarette smell and that faint, cheap cologne. She could smell the blood on him. It was fresh, with lingering warmth. That smell turned her on as much as it grossed her out.

That person paused outside the door. He left briefly, likely heading to her sister's room, but quickly came back. He pushed the half closed door open and stood there silently. In the darkness, through the cracked open closet door, Bo could see his silhouette. Like a monster, it stood there. She heard his quiet chuckles, breathy, heavy, full of excitement.

He entered the room and headed to the closet. Bo immediately covered her nose and her mouth with her hands. She backed away from the closet door, but it was too late. He had already spotted her. He leaned in and peeked. "Hello there..." he greeted with a grin. His voice creeped Bo out. "Come out and play. I've been looking for you for a long, long time..."

Bo had finally had a good look at him. The first thing she noticed was his scar that looked like tear trail. Then, she noticed the madness in his eyes. That twisted, dark look, that avid, wicked passion, it made Bo's hair stand.

* * *

Bo jolted in gasps and pants. She struggled, punched and kicked, until she was held down forcefully. She shook her head in tears, shouting, begging and whispering.

"Hey, hey, hey, easy..." Tamsin's voice came to her. It was almost too soft to be true. The blonde held her arms gently but firmly, so she would stop swinging them at her.

"I saw him..." Bo said breathlessly in shudders. "I saw the killer. He...he has a scar on his face..."

She had finally opened her eyes. She saw herself in Tamsin's blues, pale, frightened, unable to stop herself from shaking.

"Here, drink this," Tamsin urged as she handed Bo a bag of blood.

Bo gasped painfully as she stared at the crimson liquid inside the bag. She wanted it. She wanted it so much that that desire pained her. She also found that desire disgusting and hurting after she had just relived her memories of her family being murdered. She shook her head weakly and asked for a glass of water instead.

The cold, bland taste of the water did not calm her down. It made her want the blood more. In despair and guilt, she started to weep.

"Shhh..." Tamsin cooed as she stroked Bo's hair gently. She held the brunette to her chest, attempting to calm her down by kissing her forehead gently.

Bo melted in that kiss. She cried out while fisting a corner of Tamsin's shirt. "They are dead..." she muttered while snuffling. "They are all dead...He killed them. He killed them. I saw him...he had a scar on his face...I saw him...he was right there...he was in my house...he killed them..."

"It's okay..." Tamsin whispered to her. "You are safe now." After pausing briefly, she added, "you really need to drink some blood."

Bo nodded after a long hesitation.

"Or you'd prefer something warm?" Tamsin teased.

Bo shook her head. That suggestion made her feel warm, but she was too heartbreaking for that. Those dead faces, they were still there, tearing her apart.

She took a sip from the bagged blood instead. That taste gave her a weird kick inside her mouth. The lack of freshness, it seemed to have triggered something. She held Tamsin's hand tightly, right before she blacked out again.

* * *

Her vision was bright, washed out and pure blank at first. Then, that light disappeared slowly, and she was able to see things again.

She was in the old house. The thunderstorm had strengthened. The downpour outside seemed to have conquered the entire world.

She panted and shook her head. Everything in her vision had a faint blue hue. Everything seemed loud, noisy and annoying, but at the same time, they seemed more appealing than usual. She felt high, agitated, hypersensitive and light-headed.

She had something in her mouth. It was wet and sticky, with a metallic kick, like water coming out from an old, rusty pipe. As she focused on that taste, her stomach fluttered at that subtle sweetness.

Her thirst was gone, and she felt rejuvenated. She licked her lips, and then her fangs. As her tongue brushed against her teeth, that sweetness exploded in her mouth again. The irresistible, amazing sweetness.

 _What is it?_ She wondered dizzily as she raised her head and looked around.

She was in her sister's room. She was on her hands and knees like a hungry animal. Her sister's friend's body was under her. The wound on her neck was still bleeding. For some reason, that scene gave her a rush of excitement.

 _What is going on?_ She wondered with her head spinning.

"Oh my..." the scar-faced man giggled behind her. "Take a look at yourself, will you?"

Bo turned to him unconsciously, and saw that he was pointing at the floor mirror. He must have done something to it, because she was able to see herself in it now. Her eyes glowed in blue and her lips were covered in red. She had blood all over her hands as well. She could barely recognize herself now, with that pale face, glowing eyes and that vampiric look.

 _What did I do?_ She asked herself in shivers as she looked down at her blood covered hands. _What the hell have I done?_

The man chuckled loudly, and she screamed.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

"No! No!..." Bo muttered in agony. With her eyes shut tightly and her hands fisted, she shook her head violently.

That man's face, it was right there. It was right in front of her. His grin got wider and wider, until his entire face became distorted. He now looked like a monster dissolving into the air.

The cigarette smell from him, it was suffocating her. She coughed and coughed. She couldn't breathe.

"...Bo...Bo..." A voice came to her vaguely. A firm, concerned voice. "...calm down..."

She wanted to calm down. She tried, but how could she when she was reliving the memories of her first hypersense, of her first taste of human blood? How could she when she felt that yearning for the first time in her life? That yearning, that desire, that thirst...it was clawing its way out of her throat. It overwhelmed her. It consumed her. It ripped her apart.

She yelled and cried. She punched and pushed. One minute she was shuddering in fear, the next she whimpered in pain.

"...Bo, calm down," that voice commanded. It was right beside her ear. She could practically feel the heat from it.

She noticed someone's arms. They were holding her firmly yet gently. Someone was holding her from behind like a guardian angel.

It didn't take long before she noticed a soft flutter on her back. A heartbeat, both warm and strong. It comforted her. It reminded her that those nightmares weren't real.

She wanted to wake up. She wanted to open her eyes. She wanted to see who that was, but she couldn't. The serum was too strong, and it knocked her back to her dark memories again.

The downpour hadn't stopped. It never had. It just kept getting stronger and stronger. The lightnings blinded her. The taste of blood disgusted her, but it also gave her life. That night, she had lost everyone she had loved. She was forced into a new life, with a shattered heart.

Those dark, old memories, they had been lost for too long. Out of fear, denial and shame, she had them buried deep and hidden away. And now, things she once thought she had forgotten had come back to her...

That night, after her entire family had been killed, she had taken blood from one of her sister's dead friends. It was the first time she had experienced vampire hypersense. It was so strong that it knocked her out completely. When she woke up again, the killer was long gone.

She hid in the house, shaking. She cried. She sobbed. She stayed. For several times, she had thought about seeking for help, but she was too afraid and too confused to do so.

She remembered her fear. She remembered that dire need of blood. It torn her apart. She had a nervous breakdown. When the rush of thirst came to her again, she bit down into her own arms and started to sob helplessly.

She didn't know how much time had lapsed, but someone from her school had finally come over checking on her because she had not showed up for class and no one had been answering the phone. After having discovered a scene that scared every living breath out of him, he called the police.

People swarmed in, cops, detectives, crime scene units, the neighbors, people from her school, people from her parents' work, relatives from extended family...Whether it was all in one day, or through a few days, she wasn't sure. She had lost track of time, as well as everything else. Voices, colors, faces...everything around her had turned into a deafening buzz. She closed her eyes and covered her eyes, but she was still able to hear it inside her head.

She was questioned by the detectives. She was being passed back and forth between the child protection services and different agencies. She was babysit by strangers and relatives. People had taken her to the doctors, to the therapists, to different places. Each time, she had to repeated what she had seen, heard or felt. Each time, her wound was ripped open and she was forced to relive her agony.

She numbly looked at people whenever they tried to talk to her. She saw nothing but pity and fear in their eyes. She was there, in the center, wounded, lost, being displayed. She had nowhere to run and no one to go to.

Bo started to shake again, and was immediately wrapped inside a warm blanket. She let out a deep breath as she snuggled to it. She knew it was her favorite flannel blanket. It made her feel safe.

"I've got you, Bo," Tamsin's soft voice came to her. Like her flannel blanket, it was familiar, warm, and soothing.

Bo clung to the blonde in shivers and tears. She curled up inside the blanket as she sought for the blonde's warmth.

"They were all dead..." she muttered as she clenched her fingers tightly and sobbed. "My family...they were all dead...everyone's...everyone's staring at me..."

"Shhhh..." Tamsin whispered softly. "Calm down. Just breathe."

Bo nodded and inhaled. She tucked her head under Tamsin's chin and let the blonde hold her tighter. She could hear her heartbeat. It took her fear away.

"You need to drink some blood," Tamsin suggested after she had noticed that Bo's shivers wouldn't stop.

Bo shook her head weakly.

"You really need to, Bo. You are shaking, and your hands are cold like icicles," Tamsin said a she tucked one hand into the blanket and held Bo's. "You might be going into a hypo-whatever shock-"

"I'll be fine," Bo said as she closed her eyes and swallowed hard.

"Hey...I know that whatever happened to you, to your family was terrible and unforgiving, but that's not why you should be refusing blood right now. It wasn't your fault that they were murdered."

Bo bit her bottom lip hard. "After I was turned," she murmured, feeling the darkness fall upon her again. "I...I took blood from one of my sister's dead friends."

Tamsin sighed. She held Bo to her chest. "You were just turned. Your vampire instinct kicked in. You probably didn't even know what was going on back then. It wasn't...it wasn't your fault, okay?"

Bo shook her head as she cringed. "I had blood all over me," she said. "I saw myself in the mirror. I had blood all over my face, and her dead body was just...it was just right there. Why did I do that? How could I have done that?!"

"Bo, stop," Tamsin said firmly.

"And you know what the worst part is? I should have felt disgusted. I should have hated it, but a part of me liked it."

She had finally said it out loud, her worst nightmare. It was so shameful that she choked.

Tamsin let out a deep sigh. She kissed Bo's sweaty, cold forehead. "You are a Vampire, Bo. Of course a part of you liked it. It doesn't mean that you enjoyed it."

"No I didn't enjoy it, but I didn't stop either. It was horrible. I was so thirsty. That thirst never went away," Bo said with short, shallow burst of breath. "I could hear people's heartbeat. I could see their pulses. I couldn't stop thinking about it. I wanted it so bad...One day, I almost attacked that guardian lady-"

"What guardian lady?"

"A woman who...she was sent by the child protect service or something as my temporary guardian. She took care of me for a few weeks, because the agencies had to go through a lot of legal process to determine what they'd do with me-"

"Right, it was right when the heartbeat law debate started...?"

"Yeah...the heartbeat law debate and stuff..." Bo nodded as she recalled the huge debate over fifty years ago, where people had argued whether a Vampire, who would be considered "dead", should have any rights like a living human being. "The agency that sheltered me went through a lot of trouble only to find out that there was no law or protocols of how they should handle an orphaned Vampire kid. While they were figuring things out, I had to stay with this woman for a while..."

She swallowed hard and paused for a long time, before she murmured, "they fed me synthesized blood, and I just...I really wanted the real thing. One day...I almost attacked her."

"Almost, which means you didn't attack her, Bo," Tamsin reminded her.

"I probably would have, eventually, if she didn't report me afterwards," Bo said. "I was lucky that instead of a loony bin, I was sent to a Vampire teenager protect agency. There, they taught me how to control my vampire self and how to live as a vampire."

"I doubt you'd hurt anyone, Bo, with or without that agency," Tamsin said softly.

"You don't understand. This...this vampire instinct, this thirst. It's...so strong," Bo said. "I can't not think about blood. I think about it all the damn time."

"And yet you are sitting here refusing to drink any, even when you are extremely low on vamp juice," Tamsin commented.

"I just...I just can't right now, Tamsin," Bo said as she closed her eyes and shook her head slightly. "I smell like-"

She cut herself off as she realized that she was in her own apartment with Tamsin, instead of at her old house covered in blood. She cleared her throat and said, "I guess I'll go take a bath or something, to ummm...I just need a little time..."

"Good idea," Tamsin said. "I'll join you."

* * *

Bo coughed slightly when she inhaled. The entire room was too steamy, and the bath water was too warm. The bath salt had a faint cherry blossom scent, and it was a bit too sweet. She felt dizzy.

"You okay?" Tamsin asked as she sat up. She pulled Bo close and guided her to sit on her lap and face her.

"I'm fine," Bo said. She couldn't help but let her eyes wander up and down along the side of Tamsin's neck. The bite marks she made earlier were still there. The yearning for blood was so strong that it made her shiver.

"Ugh huh," Tamsin hummed while putting a lock of Bo's wet hair behind her ear. She then ran the back of her finger against Bo's cheek. The skin under her finger looked pasty white. "You look like a ghost. You need blood, Bo."

"I know," Bo murmured as she licked her dry lips. Her parched throat clenched at the word "blood". She kept staring at those bite marks. Underneath she could see the pulsing vein. A part of her fantasized how wonderful it would feel to sink her fangs into that piece of skin and taste that warm, strong blood. Groaning desperately, she forced herself to turn away.

"You little stubborn vamp..." Tamsin sighed as she cupped Bo's face and made the brunette turn to face her again.

She thumbed Bo's lips gently, until they opened a little to invite her in. Brushing the tip of Bo's fangs, she watched Bo close her eyes and soften. She gently pressed her thumb down and let the sharp fang piece into her skin. A drop of blood immediately pooled up, and she smeared it on Bo's pale lips.

"Tamsin, don't..." Bo protested in futile. The sweetness of the blood was all she could smell now. She sucked her own lips, and that tiny drop of blood gave her a strong, heated rush. For a second or two, she thought she'd pass out. The vampire inside her, it was screaming for more.

"Don't what?"

"Don't do this to me, please."

"Why not? You need it, and let's be honest, you love it."

"I do, but-"

"-but what, Bo?" Tamsin asked as she squeezed more blood out of the wound. She watched Bo quiver again while hungrily licking the blood off her thumb.

"I just-" Bo choked.

"You just don't want me to see you as a monster? You are afraid that you'll lose control and hurt me somehow? You are afraid that I'd leave you once I see your true self?" Tamsin raised her eyebrows and gazed into those frightened browns. She rubbed Bo's lips with her thumb and encouraged the brunette open those soft, enticing lips again.

"I could very well lose control," Bo argued. "I mean, you've seen it. When you were kidnapped, I...I killed several Huntresses. I drained them. I didn't even feel like myself. I felt like...someone else."

"Yourself or not, you didn't drain all of them," Tamsin reminded her. "And you certainly didn't kill me. You saved my life, remember?"

"I-I...what if I-" Bo said breathlessly as her struggled to contain her desires for blood. "I just don't know when I'd lose control, Tamsin. I'm sure you've seen plenty of Vampire losing control before. They turned into serial killers and left a trail of dead bodies behind. Or worse...they started to consume human flesh and turn into Ghouls-"

"You are not them, Bo, and I don't mind you losing a little control," Tamsin told her as she teased Bo's fangs again. "I've seen you losing control over my blood. You loved every bit of it, and so did I."

Her words made Bo moan, and she chuckled while putting an arm around Bo's waist. She pulled Bo in and kissed her hard.

Pulling back briefly, she continued,"I am not afraid of you, and I am certainly not afraid of that vampire inside you. I love that you are you, Bo. I think you are perfect."

Bo melted in her voice. She melted in Tamsin's lips. She melted in that strong heartbeat, those soft touches, and that embrace.

"Now..." Tamsin whispered. "Answer me honestly, Bo, do you want some blood or not?"

Bo closed her eyes and swallowed hard. "I do, Tamsin. I want it so bad..." she admitted in shivers.

"Then take it," Tamsin told her. When she saw those vulnerable browns, she added,"you can have as much as you want."

She offered with all the sincerity in her heart, and the brunette finally gave in.

Hesitantly, Bo kissed the side of Tamsin's neck, before she gently sank her fangs into her skin. She gulped down that bittersweetness. She gulped down that heat. A few mouthful of blood sent her right to her vampire heaven.

* * *

As Tamsin's fingers slowly combed through her half wet hair, Bo let out a few lazy moans. She had been resting herself on top of Tamsin in the tub after she had taken some blood, and she was floating in ecstasy.

"High again?" Tamsin asked, satisfied that a sheen of subtle pink had returned to Bo's cheeks. Those soft lips were now rosy red again.

Bo was too distracted to answer. With a little guilt and a lot of hypersense. she played with a cluster of bubbles that were foaming right above Tamsin's chest while letting out infrequent, silly giggles.

"I'll take that as a yes," Tamsin murmured, relieved.

"Thank you...ummm...for...everything," Bo murmured, and Tamsin gave her a soft snort as her reply.

They stayed in the scented, hot water for a while while holding the other person. It seemed that the world had stopped, and nothing really mattered anymore.

"Can I ask you something?" Bo eventually broke the silence.

"Anything that is not stupid," Tamsin replied.

"What is it like being a Huntress?" Bo asked as she looked into those light blue eyes.

"Eat, drink, fuck, kill little vamps that ask stupid questions," Tamsin rolled her eyes.

"What was it like when you first...you know, felt your Huntress power?"

Tamsin went quiet. She had always expected Bo to ask this question. In fact a part of her wondered why Bo hadn't asked her this already. The brunette was very inquisitive, after all. And now, Bo had finally spat it out, yet she wondered if she was ready to answer her. She rarely shared any Huntress secrets with people outside the Guild. What concerned her was not that it was a private matter, but that it wasn't exactly all rainbows and spring blossoms. Her life being a Huntress, especially as a member of the Huntress Guild, was the exact opposite of those things...

"It was...painful," she finally answered Bo's question.

Bo frowned a little. "Oh?"

Tamsin paused briefly as her mind was brought back to the awakening of her power. "I was like 10, 11 when I first experienced it. I mean, I had sort of noticed it before that but...it was the first time I realized that I wasn't hallucinating or anything. I was at this...this place, an open market, I think. The sun was down, but it hadn't completely gone dark yet. Then, it just happened. I thought my heart was exploding or something. I felt like there were things growing in my veins. It was really painful, and I blacked out."

"So it just sort of...appeared?"

"I guess it was more like being triggered," Tamsin said. "I didn't know this until a while later but the presence of a vampire would trigger a young Huntress' awakening."

"So there was a vampire nearby?"

"I had no idea. I guess there must be one, but I wouldn't know since I passed out. Also at that time I thought Vampires were just...shit made up to scare kids. When I woke up again the Guild had already taken me in. Apparently I was there for days but I didn't remember that at all."

"Then they taught you all the things you need to know as a Huntress?"

A bitter smile appeared at the corner of Tamsin's lips. "They sure did."

Bo frowned at that smile. "What's wrong?"

"They sure teach you all the things you need to know as a Huntress, only through the hard way," Tamsin explained. "I barely recovered before I was thrown into this survivor game."

"Survivor game?"

Tamsin closed her eyes briefly as she let herself recall all those dark, terrifying memories. "The Guild sent me and a few other girls to a dungeon. They were just like me, young, confused, scared. We all just had our awakening. In the dungeon, we were given some weapons. Then, we were taught how to infuse those weapons with our powers. Before we figured out what was going on or what they wanted from us, we were surrounded by hungry Ghouls and furious Vampires."

"What?! How?"

"Like I said, they teach you what you need to know the hard way," Tamsin continued.

"Wait...so they just threw defenseless kids into a dungeon like that?" Bo exclaimed, and when she got a shrug from Tamsin, she raised her voice. "That is just wrong!"

"It was how the Guild handled things back then. They tolerated no weakness and they certainly didn't want to spend any time on those who they thought to be weak. Anyway...I was in the dungeon, scared as hell. All I did was...trying to stay alive I guess. I don't really remember what exactly happened to me or the others. My Huntress power was killing me. For most of the time, I wasn't even sure I was conscious...I was the only who made out alive that day."

The dark, moldy dungeon seemed to have trapped her again. The heavy smell of blood and corpses. The growling Ghouls and hissing Vampires. Her legs were about to give out because of fear, and her Huntress power was ripping her body open. It was so painful that she started to scream. The knife in her hand glowed, and she shoved it right into a Vampire's chest. As the Vampire froze and perish, a rush of excitement ran through her body.

That thrill seemed to have become the only thing that comforted her. She pushed her way forward, and eventually made her way out of the dungeon. A group of Huntresses from the Guild waited there. In daze, she looked at their faces and thought: this is what I'll become.

The leader of the Guild was there as well. "Queen", that was her code name. Tamsin remembered seeing that scepter hanging on her belt. The crown pattern on the blood rune shone brightly under the sun.

She heard her telling her "from now on, you shall be one of us. You shall be called Valkyrie."

Everything was so close yet so far away. The pain inside her was real. All she could feel back then, was that Huntress inside her.

"You said that I don't understand how you feel, Bo," Tamsin whispered as she held Bo's hand in hers. "The truth is that I do understand. You and I, we are not that different. You have a Vampire inside you. I have a Huntress in me. You have the thirst for blood. I have the thirst to kill Vampires. I, too, feel it all the damn time."

"Even right now?" Bo furrowed her eyebrows a little.

Tamsin smiled. She gently rubbed the side of Bo's fingers. "Yes, even right now. It's just like your desire for blood, Bo. It's always there. Whenever there's the presence of a vamp, I'd feel it."

"Is it...painful?" Bo asked as she carefully placed her other hand on Tamsin's chest. She did it so gently as if she was afraid that a simple touch would hurt the Huntress. The strong heartbeat fluttered against her palm. It made her smile.

"No, not anymore. I think the pain only occurs during and shortly after the awakening," Tamsin replied as she put her hand on top of Bo's. "It's more like an urge, like a mild panic attack or something. I'd feel slightly agitated. I'd be more focused...It was hard at first, but I've learned to cope, just like you've learned to cope with your thirst."

"So we are not that different huh..." Bo murmured, finding that extremely comforting and exciting.

"No, we are not," Tamsin repeated.

Bo smiled. Tamsin's heartbeat was still under her palm. It fluttered like a young, vigorous butterfly that was about to burst into the hot summer sun. It was so full of life. Fascinated by that flutter, Bo asked, "is that why your heart is beating so fast right now? Is it because you are so close to a Vampire?"

Tamsin let out a few breathy chuckles. "No," she shook her head as she looked into Bo's curious eyes. "Well...maybe a little bit, but..."

"But...?" Bo asked.

Tamsin sighed softly as she cupped Bo's face with one hand. Her hand was shaking a little, and she knew that. Pulling the brunette in, she told her in a whisper,"it's not because I'm so close to a vamp, Bo. It's because I'm so close to you."

* * *

 **A/N: a fluffy chapter! Hope everyone likes it!**


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

With nothing but a bath towel around her body, Tamsin invited herself into Bo's kitchen.

"I'm starving," she announced as she opened the fridge. After briefly going through everything inside she grunted, "aaand of course the only shit you have here are: fake vamp juice, bagged vamp juice, and processed food containing flavored vamp juice."

"I'm a Vampire, Tamsin. What do you expect?"

"Oh I don't know...at least a little bit fresh grocery maybe?" Tamsin murmured with a sigh.

"I don't really do human food anymore," Bo said in chuckles as she put on a long, soft t-shirt on. "I mean, sometimes I'd get some fruits but that's about it... What would you like to eat?"

"A big, juicy steak or two would be nice, with spicy steak sauce. Mashed red skin potato, cooked with real butter...would be nice if I can get some fresh vegetables too," Tamsin described the perfect dinner as her stomach rumbled.

"There's a really good steakhouse in town," Bo suggested. "It's like 20 minutes drive from here."

"Yeah, add 90 min wait time to that at this time of day," Tamsin snorted as she pointed at the clock on the wall, reminding Bo that it was the busiest hour of the day for restaurants. "Plus I prefer cooking steaks myself. The vamp restaurants always overcook my steak."

Bo smiled. "Well then, I guess your only option is going to be: get everything you need from a grocery store nearby and cook the meal yourself. Do you want to go now?"

"Only if you are driving," Tamsin said as she tossed Bo's car keys to the brunette.

"I can drive, but you'd at least have to put something on," Bo said as she pointed at the towel around Tamsin's body.

Tamsin rolled her eyes and picked up her clothes from the floor. After sniffing, she rolled her eyes again and threw them into the washer instead. She raided Bo's closet until she found a set of outfit she could wear. "Alright, let's go."

* * *

At the grocery store, Tamsin quickly picked out a few packs of new york strips, some fresh vegetable and a collection of seasonings. At the check out, she groaned at the long lines. It seemed that everyone in line had a full cart. Some even had two carts.

"Geez, everyone suddenly decides to do their weekly shopping today or something?" She grunted as she picked the shortest line, and Bo chuckled.

Soon she realized that the "shortest" line had become the longest because it was the slowest. The cashier was new and it would take her twice as much time to do the same tasks. Like that wasn't enough, the customer in front of Tamsin accidentally dropped a carton of synthesized blood on the floor. The line was temporarily closed so the floor could be cleaned.

Tamsin groaned in frustration as she followed the direction of another store employee to the next checkout window.

"I'm sorry about that," the employee apologized to her as he started to scan things from Tamsin's basket. Unfortunately, the scanner was unable to recognize a bottle of spice, and the cashier had to leave to get help.

"Great..." Tamsin murmured.

"Relax. A ten minute wait won't kill you," Bo told her.

"No it won't, but it might kill all the vamps in this damn store, cuz when I'm hungry I get grumpy, and when I'm grumpy I..."

She trailed off as the cashier came back with someone else. That person - a middle aged woman who seemed to be a supervisor of some kind- had a small mark on the side of her neck. It seemed that piece of skin had grown too much and it eventually clustered into a wrinkly nub with a dent in the middle.

"...hey," Bo nudged her and reminded her that the cashier was talking to her.

"Your total is 99.05 and you saved 13.50 today," the cashier repeated patiently.

Tamsin handed him a 100 bill. From the changes she picked out the quarters and tossed the rest into the donation box nest to the cashier registry.

They exited the store and put everything in the car. After they both had sat down, Tamsin put one hand on Bo's cheek and turned Bo's face slightly to check on her neck. Then, she gently tilted Bo's head towards the other side and checked the other side of her neck.

"What?" Bo asked, a bit confused - though, she enjoyed Tamsin's touch.

"Oh...ummm...I was just looking for your maker mark," Tamsin said as she examined Bo. She was looking for the same type of skin growth she had seen on that store supervisor on Bo - a small, wrinkly nub, but she found none. Maybe it's not on her neck? She wondered. She had seen Bo naked multiple times, but she had no recollection of seeing anything like that.

"My what?"

"Your maker mark," Tamsin repeated. "The thing-you know, the mark you get after you are turned. Did you get it removed or something?" She knew that it would only take a small procedure to remove that growth, and nowadays countless clinics would provide such service. In fact, only very few Vampires would choose not to get it removed now.

"Oh you mean that skin growth you get when you were turned?" Bo had finally figured out what Tamsin was talking about - a skin growth caused by certain immune reaction to the maker's blood when turned. "I...I don't think I have one."

"You don't?" Tamsin narrowed her eyes at Bo. She recalled the things she had learned about the maker mark at the Guild: a Vampire would turn a human by first draining about 2/3 blood out of the human's body, then the Vampire must give that human some of their own blood through the bite wound. The human, who would go into a coma-like state, would wake up as a new Vampire. The Vampire's blood that entered the human's system would cause an immune reaction which ultimately led to a small skin growth around the bite mark. She had always assumed that this would apply to every Vampire but now she couldn't be sure.

"No, I don't have a maker mark," Bo shook her head. "No everyone has it."

"Oh...hmmm...interesting," Tamsin hummed.

"Why are you suddenly so interested in maker marks?"

"Oh, it's just something-I mean, a case I read about a while back. Some vamp was making vamps illegally, and got caught. The forensics people nailed his ass by extracting DNA from the maker mark of one of his victims and the proving that it was him who turned those people," Tamsin explained.

"Really? You can identify the maker by doing that?"

"Well you gotta have something to compare with...and you don't have one, so whatever," Tamsin shrugged.

"Yeah...no I don't think I have a maker mark," Bo said.

"Not the end of the world," Tamsin said simply. "Why don't we get back to your place asap so I can cook? I'm really, really hungry."

* * *

Tamsin started preparing her food immediately after they got back, and Bo watched her cooking while sipping a bag of blood.

With her sleeves rolled up and her hair tied into a messy bun, Tamsin dragged a cast iron pan out of the cabinet. "Wow, for someone who doesn't cook at all, you surely spend quite some cash on nice pans," she commented as she wiped it briefly before drizzling some oil into it.

"Yeah..." Bo murmured as she wondered when exactly she had bought that pan. She didn't even know she had it until now.

Tamsin cut, peeled and diced. Soon everything started to boil, sizzle and simmer. Everything seemed so alive in the air. The smell, the sound, the heat...

It was nostalgic, watching someone cooking in her kitchen, or simply inhaling the aroma of hot oil, spice and meat. Bo couldn't remember when was the last time she had someone cooking in her kitchen like this. She couldn't even remember when was the last time she had cooked herself. Watching Tamsin searing a branch of tomatoes-on-the-vine in a smaller pan, she remembered that a long time ago, she did have a home. She had a family whom she would have dinner with everyday. She'd watch her parents cook, and occasionally she'd help. Those bittersweet memories burst out, making her eyes a little foggy.

Now, she had an apartment. She felt safe here. She felt comfortable. It was her property, under her name, owned by her. It was a place that she could eat and sleep, a place where she kept all her things, but was it really her home? She never felt welcomed when she came back after some crazy night fun. She seldom found it comforting when she had nightmares about the bloody murders. It seemed...indifferent, and empty, no matter how long she had lived here. She had never felt the life in it, until now.

"Stop staring at my food. You've already had your dinner," Tamsin drawled with a soft tone as she checked her steaks. She then drained the pot with boiled potatoes over the sink. She had to use a spatula to mash the potatoes because she couldn't find a masher.

"Are you really going to eat all five of them?" Bo asked as she stared at the sizzling pan curiously. She had thought that five pieces of steak would be five meals for Tamsin, and didn't expect the Huntress to cook all of them at once.

"No," Tamsin replied.

"Good, cuz I may want to try some of it," Bo said. It was mostly a tease but she did want to at least have a bite or two. They looked delicious.

"Do you really?" Tamsin rolled her eyes.

"Maybe."

"Then get your cute little ass over here and mash the potatoes," Tamsin commanded.

Bo let out a few chuckles, before she complied. "I didn't know you'd be good at cooking at all," she said honestly, recalling all those microwavable food she had seen in Tamsin's RV.

"I always enjoy good meals," Tamsin replied while tossing some basil leaves into her seared vegetables. "I just don't have the time to do it everyday and I certainly don't enjoy cooking in an RV."

She paused for a second or two, before she continued, "speaking of which, I need a new RV. "

"You'll also need your entire wardrobe and your weapon chest," Bo reminded her.

"I know that," Tamsin grunted. "Fucking annoying...those bitches are gonna pay for what they did...guess I got a lot of shopping to do..."

She mumbled as she took three plates out and placed them beside the stove. After forking one piece of steak into each, she added mashed potato and vegetables as the sides.

"Ummmm, do I have an invisible guest in my apartment or something?" Bo was a little confused when she saw three, instead of two, plates of food.

"No, but you do have a hungry beast waiting there-" Tamsin threw her chin at the balcony.

Bo turned around, surprised to see Sugarmuffin there - the dog had intentionally avoided appearing in her apartment for so long that she sometimes had forgotten about his existence. Now he sat outside the door staring at her with impatient eyes.

Bo opened the balcony door for him. He darted in and headed straight to the food, leaving a trail of muddy paw prints on Bo's carpet. After inhaling the steak, he licked the meat juice off the plate and then gobbled down the mashed potato. He seemed to be indifferent about the other vegetables, only taking a few bites of them as if he didn't want to upset Tamsin. Then, he tilted his head and peeked at Bo, before he jumped and took Bo's steak. He quickly munched it down and let out a big, wet burp. Huffing and puffing, he headed to the balcony.

"Hey!" Bo yelled at Sugarmuffin, but he just snorted at her and slammed the door shut.

"Your stupid dog ate my steak!" Bo complained.

"I know, and that's why I bought 5 steaks," Tamsin winked.

Bo went to get herself a new plate, a piece of steak and some vegetables. She also got herself a bottle of Vermilion Zero. She came back to the table and they both started eating. Tamsin pretty much inhaled her food as fast as Sugarmuffin, while Bo slowly enjoyed every bite in her mouth. They reveled in the moment.

* * *

After dinner, Tamsin practically forced Bo to feed off her again. While Bo curled up in the couch and slept off the remaining effect of the serum and her hypersense, Tamsin started to go through things in the evidence boxes.

She checked the box of the murder of Bo's family first. She was thrilled to discover that the police had collected some DNA samples from the crime scene at Bo's old house, but soon was disappointed to find that due to a heavy flooding twenty years ago, the police department had to discard a huge collection of contaminated evidences, including those DNA samples.

The notes from the detectives provided more details to the crime scene, but not much to the identity of the killer. Then, she read through the witnesses' statements, but found nothing worth investigating. As she looked at the crime scene photos, a dull pain exploded in her chest. She couldn't imagine how much pain it had brought to Bo at that time. Just thinking about it broke her heart. She gently held Bo's hand and squeezed, and the brunette muttered something softly in her sleep.

She got herself a glass of water, before she started to examine the other box (She had briefly gone through the things in there with Bo already, but hadn't really read any of the documents yet). The coroner report showed that Nephthys was attacked and killed by a Vampire. Residue on her weapon suggested that she had at least wounded the attacker, but not enough to kill him. The crime scene was messy, and it pained her to see the dead body of Nephthys. All those glory, all those old honorable memories, all her life, had reduced to that dead body, a few pages of reports and a box of insignificant items.

She noticed that for both cases, the police had built dental models of the killer. The models suggested that both killers were the same guy, but they had not found a match in any databases back then. They also came up with several suspects but they were all ruled out later.

The last update on both cases were over fifteen years ago. The detective who had originally worked on them ran the dental model in a newer database again, before he retired. No match came up in that search either.

Tamsin logged into a database that only Huntresses and other Vampire crime department workers had access to, and ran the dental model. She hoped that she'd find a match, but she found none.

She crossed referenced the signature of the murders in the system, and came up with nothing. That surprised her a little, since she was expecting to find similar cases. Being a Huntress for so long, she knew a killer like that would kill again, and then again, until he got caught. They would never stop on their own, and they weren't able to, but this one somehow...did stop?

What about possible previous killing then? She wondered. The crime scene of the murder of Bo's family was too careful, too calculated. It couldn't have been done by an amateur, which would mean that he had killed before and perfected his skills through previous killings, but how could she not find anything in the system?

Maybe the signature changed too much? She asked herself as she stared at the crime scene photos. Maybe he did commit crimes prior to that but they looked too different. But, why did he stop afterwards? Could he be dead already, or maybe in prison? Or, something's preventing him from killing again...or could it be that he's just so good at covering his tracks?

Drowning in her own thoughts, she fondled with those small items that once belonged to Nephthys: a small, old compass with a symbol of Huntress Guild etched to the back side, a sack of old herbs popular among the Huntresses for treating minor Vampire bites, a tattered train ticket...

Among those things, she noticed a rectangular, poker-size tin case. The paint on the cover had faded quite a bit, only showing a vague pattern of a red circle on top of green pine trees. It was a mint brand that had been popular several decades ago, Though, whatever that was inside didn't smell like mints at all...

Bo's rapid, shallow pants came to her, and she had to check on the brunette instead.

Bo opened her eyes slowly. She seemed a bit startled, but not nearly as scared as she had been.

"More old memories?" Tamsin asked.

Bo shook her head. "No, just the same thing...they-they sorta come and go randomly and-"

She paused as she sniffed. Her eye shot wide open. "What is that smell?" She asked, shuddering.

"Hmmm?" Tamsin frowned a little as she wondered why Bo suddenly seemed spooked.

"That," Bo pointed at the tin case as she covered her nose. "It smells like...cigarettes."

Cigarette smell wouldn't scare her. It was that particular stench that brought that stormy night back to her. It smelled exactly like the killer.

"Something wrong with it?" Tamsin asked as she opened the tin case. Inside there were two pieces of cigarettes. Both seemed to have been rolled by hand. There were no logos or brand names on them. One of them had been smoked, while the other had not.

"The killer...he...when he was at my house, he had this heavy cigarette smell. That smell...it was exactly the same like these," Bo explained.

"It was?" Tamsin was surprised. She leaned in and inhaled the smell.

"Yeah, I'm sure of it. It was heavy and...it stank. It had this spike of peppercorn-ish scent and something...something citrus-y. There was also a very faint sweet scent in it," Bo described.

"Hmmm..." Tamsin hummed. "Interesting. I wonder why she'd have these..."

"Maybe she liked to roll her own cigarettes?"

Tamsin shook her head. "These aren't hers," she said.

"Why not? She was not a smoker?"

"I'm sure she was," Tamsin said as she picked up a pack of cigarette from the evidence box. It was mostly empty. "She just wouldn't smoke these because these didn't contain tobacco leaves at all."

"You seem to be quite confident about that," Bo commented.

"These are made of the leaves of a plant called Devil's Tongue. They smell just like tobacco only with a strong scent of peppercorn. They were actually stronger than regular tobacco cigarettes, and they were quite popular a few decades ago."

"Yet you are convinced that she wouldn't smoke these."

"She wouldn't because Devil's Tongue is sort of poisonous to Huntresses," Tamsin said. "Smoking it long term will cause severe liver and lung damage. Sure, a few puffs probably won't kill you, but it'll numb your senses. We don't want that either."

"Why would she have these then? One of them has been smoked," Bo said as she pointed at the shorter cigarette. One end of it had clearly been burnt.

Tamsin didn't answer her question. She picked up the cigarette and smelled it carefully. "Back in the days, Devil's Tongue is most popular among the Vamps because it was much stronger than tobacco. A common practice among the Vamps was to soak the leaves in different things that would make them really high. This one for example, has been soaked in at least three or four different things. The citrus-y smell is probably from rube blood oranges. The sweetness might be from this rare nectar...It's a bit of a weird and unique combination, cuz I'd expect whoever smokes this to feel quite high, like...painfully high."

"It's a Vampire favorite, and the combination is rare...what a coincidence that Nephthys would carry the same type of shit the killer would smoke then," Bo murmured.

"I don't think it's a coincidence," Tamsin said. "I think to her these are sort of evidence. We know that she was after him, for whatever reasons she had. She probably had found these cigarettes somewhere, and she knew they belonged to the killer."

"Can we ID the killer using these then?"

"I don't know. They were over fifty years old," Tamsin said. "They might be useful later, I guess."

She put the cigarette back into the tin case and closed it. The subtle air disturbances brought the smell to Bo again. All of a sudden, everything started to spin a little around her. The murder night, the pouring rain, her being alone and frightened, meeting Nephthys in her favorite bakery shop, the brief, confusing conversation...

Bo closed her eyes and panted as Nephthys' face slowly dissolved into the blank. Her voice, though, seemed to still be there.

"Are you okay?" Tamsin asked.

Bo nodded slightly. "Why..." she asked in a whisper. "Why would she ask about my mom?"

"What?" Tamsin frowned.

"Nephthys," Bo said. "When she...when she approached me in that bakery, she made a comment about my mom not being local. Why would she say that?

"What exactly did she say to you?"

"Well, she asked me if I had seen this guy, and I was like nope haven't seen anyone like that. She seemed quite agitated and frustrated. Then suddenly, she said: your mom is not from here, isn't she? I asked her if she knew my mom, but she didn't answer me. It was like she didn't want to tell me why she'd mention my mom."

"Then?"

"Then, she just left," Bo said.

"Hmmm..." Tamsin tapped her fingers on the coffee table. "Is there any reason why she'd be interested in your mom?"

"I don't know. I mean, yeah, no she wasn't from here. She was from Norfolk. It's like 6-7 hours away from here. She was born and raised there, and then she met my dad in college. When they graduated, he took a job here and she came here with him. They had lived here since. I don't know why Nephthys would be interested in her at all."

"What about her family?"

"My gramps-I mean, my mom's parents passed away several years before the murder. She was the only child so no siblings. Not sure if there were any extended families but if there were, she wasn't close to them at all."

"What were your grandparents like?"

"They were the nicest people in the world. My older sister and I spent a lot of time with them when we were kids...They took us to the beach. They took us to the theme parks. They spoiled us. I don't-there was nothing weird about them."

Tamsin nodded along as she tried to connect those dots: Nephthys, the killer, Bo's mother. Nephthys was chasing the killer, and the killer killed Bo's mom, but what was the connection between Nephthys and Bo's mom? Was the Huntress aware that Bo's mom would become one of the victims? But, the killer had more than one victims, why hadn't she asked about the others? Was there something special about Bo's mom? Maybe she was his "type"? Maybe she was the target all alone? But, if that was the case, why did he kill the others, and more importantly why did he turn Bo instead of killing her? From the crime scene photos and reports, Tamsin had not found any evidence indicating that he was targeting Bo's mom specifically. He didn't spend extra time wit her. He didn't treat her differently. The killing of Bo's mother (and her father) was quick and messy. It didn't look like she was his ultimate target at all.

Maybe there was some secret connection between her and Nephthys then? Something led Nephthys to this small town after all, and it had to be related to her sister's death. Could Bo's mom be involved in it somehow? But, The Vampire Queen died over 600 years ago, and since Isis hadn't returned afterwards, Tamsin could only assume that she died shortly after that. How could Bo's mom, a person who was born hundreds of years after that, be involved in any of it?

"Maybe we should look into your mom...?" Tamsin suggested.

"My mom? Why?"

"Something's...Nephthys came here for a reason. She knew the killer was here. She approached you in that bakery shop for a reason, and she mentioned your mom for a reason. I think whatever that had made her going after him, might be related to your mom."

* * *

 **A/N: Happy thanksgiving everyone!**


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

"My mom...you don't think she had something to do with the killer, do you?" Bo frowned.

"I'm not saying that. I don't think she was involved with the killer. I just think that there was something about her that-right now, we know that the killer murdered your whole family. We know that Nephthys was after him. We know that the killer probably targeted your family for a reason. We also know that Nephthys approached you before the murder. She was drawn to this place for a reason. Maybe she had found out that he was targeting your family. Maybe she had found out about something else, like...I don't know, I just feel like that there's something that...that can connect her twin sister's death, the killer and why he targeted your mom."

"But...I thought you said that it didn't look like my mom was his prime target," Bo reminded Tamsin.

"She was not. He did not pay extra attention to her at the crime scene. He treated her the same as he treated the other victims," Tamsin said. "He spent the most time with you. He murdered everyone you loved and turned you. He basically left you a lifelong nightmare. You were his prime target, not your mom, but remember how Nephthys mentioned your mother to you. She did not make any comments about her identity or anything. She said that your mom wasn't from here. It's probably not about her, but about where she was from."

"Well, she was from a place called Norfolk. It's a few hours of drive from here. What does that have anything to do with all this anyway?"

"I think we are missing a piece of puzzle here. Something important. Something-like if we figure that out, everything will start to make sense. It's something about your mom, about where she was from, that led Nephthys here."

"Okay...so we need to know more about my mother. Where do we even start, though? Are we just gonna go to Norfolk and knock on people's doors? It's-they died over fifty years ago, and she moved out of there at least ten years before that. Her old friends or classmates were probably all dead or..."

"Do you know any of them? Your mom's old friends or, you know, acquaintance?"

Bo shook her head. "Not really. She had a couple of friends from high school. I've met them before. I think they are all dead now. My mom was just...she didn't really have many friends. She liked being alone."

Tamsin nodded and went quiet while wondering if it would be worth it to go to Norfolk and look for people who might have known Bo's mother. Like that would produce anything useful...she sighed, since she had no idea where to start. "Tell me more about your mom," she eventually suggested.

Bo took a deep breath. "She ummm...she was born and raised in Norfolk. She was the only child. She was...neither the top nor the bottom in school. I don't think she did any sports or anything in school either. She went to college and met my dad there. He graduated one year before her, and he got a job here, so after she graduated she moved here as well. She worked part-time at the city library, and when she was not working she spent most of her time with us. She loved gardening. She loved tulips and peonies. She spent years creating this amazing backyard flower garden behind our house. We had flowers all year round, inside and outside. I don't remember we ever had a vase in the house that wasn't filled with fresh cut flowers. She liked to read too, always kept a book in her purse. I think her favorite thing to do was to sit in the backyard garden, read, and then with a pot of green tea."

"And you said she didn't have many friends huh?"

"Not really. She wasn't much of social person. Well, neither was my dad, but occasionally he would have some guest over, like his co-workers or something, but I don't remember my mom inviting anyone over to our house like ever."

"Not even her co-workers?"

"No, I don't remember any. I mean, sometime she'd go to an event, but she just didn't like inviting people to our house."

Tamsin nodded. "Did she have any close friends whom she'd spend time with regularly? Someone who would know her more?"

"She sometimes would go shopping with a co-worker of hers, but I think that lady passed away years ago. She did join some local book club or something, but then she quit saying that she didn't feel like reading with other people. Ummm...she did have a couple of gardening friends. They'd exchange like seeds and stuff, but...I don't think they were really close close."

"Not much of a people person, gotcha."

"Yeah, not really...it's not that she was afraid of people or something. She just really enjoyed being alone."

"And you just can't remember anything unusual at all? I mean, literally, anything? It could be a strange visitor, something that didn't feel quite right, maybe you got up one night and heard your parents discussing something out of the ordinary?"

"Nothing that I could remotely connect to the killer," Bo said, shaking her head. "Of course, I might not have paid attention, since I had no idea that someone would kill my family..."

"Anything that she might have mentioned about her hometown?" Tamsin asked. "Did she ever mention like weird strangers, places, or...you know, anything?"

"She liked talking about her hometown, but I don't remember anything weird. I mean, I've been to Norfolk, a lot. When I was a kid, my sister and I spent a lot of time with my grandparents there during summer and winter vacations. It was just a nice, small town. Everyone knows everyone. I felt safe there. I loved going there and I loved spending time with my grandparents."

"They both passed away, right?"

"Mhm," Bo nodded. "It was like a couple of years before the murder. I was nine, almost ten, I think. One day we got a phone call from the police saying that they were involved in a bad car accident. Both of them died before the ambulance even got there."

"Gotcha," Tamsin nodded.

"My mom took it really, really hard," Bo said as she remembered the gloomy days. "I saw her crying in the bathroom at night several times after the funeral. I still remember the day when we got the phone call. I thought that was hell."

She huffed slightly at herself, and Tamsin squeezed her hand gently.

"So..." Tamsin continued, "when you visited your grandparents, have you noticed anything unusual? Do you remember anything out of the ordinary?"

Bo shook her head. "I was just a little kid. Even if something weird did happen, I probably wouldn't have noticed it anyway."

"Were your grandparents close to your mom?"

"Oh very. The way my grandmother talked about her every time, it was like she was still her little girl, ya know. Sometimes my dad would joke that my grandma was overly protective."

"Your grandparents, what were they like?"

"They are like the best grandparents you can ever have. My grandpa was an amazing cook. He made the best cookies in the world. Every time I go there I'd eat tons of them. My grandma was sort of like my mom. She liked being alone..."

Bo babbled along with a small smile on her lips. Those old, sweet memories came to her lively. For a brief moment she felt like six or seven again, where everything had still been perfect, warm and beautiful, like those snowy winter days...a red cardinal bird rested on a small branch of the snow crested pine tree outside the window...empty streets, with cars parked on the sides...those cars, they looked like two rows of weird creatures wearing fluffy white hats...Inside her grandparents' house, it was cozy. The smell of the freshly baked cookies made her feel happy. A gray tea kettle was boiling on the stove, producing dull, bursting noises. Her sister was playing with the old orange cat. The TV was on. Someone was talking about how to prepare a turkey...She went into the kitchen and got herself a cookie. As she was eating it, she paced around in the kitchen. There, she could see her grandmother sitting by the breakfast table writing her diary. She could practically hear the tip of that old fountain pen moving across the pages...

"Diaries!" Bo exclaimed.

"What?" Tamsin frowned.

"Diaries," Bo repeated. "My grandma used to write diaries. If something weird happened, I bet she'd put it in her diaries. I bet she'd put everything about my mom in her diaries too!"

Tamsin raised her eyebrows. "Looong shot but I guess we could try that...Please tell me that you know where those diaries are right now."

"I have them," Bo said. "When they passed away, my parents sold their old house and took things like her diaries and photo albums to our house. After they...after the murder, I packed everything and dumped them in a storage unit. I haven't really checked or anything recently but I think everything should still be there."

"Well then what are we waiting for? Let's go get them."

From a nearby self-storage facility, they retrieved several boxes labeled as "Gramps". They went through the contents and dug out all Bo's grandmother's diary books. However, as they finished they realized that quite a few book were missing, particularly those written during Bo's mother's early childhood and her high school years. They went back to the storage unit and searched through all the remaining boxes, but couldn't find them.

"Are these all the stuff you have? Do you have maybe a few extra boxes stored somewhere else?" Tamsin asked as she rubbed her sore shoulder.

"These are all the stuff I have," Bo said as she looked around inside the unit. She compared everything with a list she had kept, and made sure she didn't miss anything. After being quiet for a few seconds, she sighed and groaned, "oh no..."

"What?"

"After my grandparents died, we went to their house to clean up and pack things. I remember finding flood damage in their basement. Some of the storage boxes were moldy and rotten, so we had to throw them away. Oh...I guess maybe those diary books were in those boxes. I wish I had known..."

"It's not the end of the world, sweetheart," Tamsin snorted. "Let's work with what we have first."

They started reading Bo's grandmother's diaries when they got home. A long, tedious night of reading yielded a disappointing result: they found nothing worth further investigating.

"Are we gonna read these?" Bo asked hesitantly as she pointed at a stack of diary books. They were written a few years before her grandparents' death, long after when her mom had moved away from Norfolk.

"Oh I guess we might as well," Tamsin grunted as she took the one on the very top. She leaned back and closed her sore eyes for a while.

"We can take a break, you know," Bo suggested. She had finished over ten bottles of drinks, and her thirst was getting stronger.

Tamsin pulled her lips into a smirk as she smelled the subtle eagerness in that suggestion. She was about to put the diary book down, but paused when she felt the uneven thickness in the middle. With a quick glance, she noticed that there was something tucked in the middle of the book. She turned to that page and discovered a sealed envelope. It appeared to have been addressed to Bo's mother.

"Hey, I think this was addressed to your mother," she said as she handed it to Bo.

Bo frowned at the envelop after she recognized the writing as her grandfather's. "It looks like it was from my grandpa, but...it has never been opened," She murmured as she examined it.

"Well, considering that it's been hidden in this diary book, he might not have given it to her," Tamsin said.

"Weird..." Bo murmured. She flipped the envelope back and forth for a few times, before she decided to open it. Inside she found a small, light green key envelop. On the envelop it printed "Keep ONE safe deposit box key in this envelope. First Savings Bank, 1002 Main Street, Norfolk, 4th Continental Division, Postal Code: 04-05-08557".

"It's a safe deposit box key," Bo said. "1002 Main Street...that's like 10 minutes away from where my grandparents used to live..."

She opened the envelope and got a small key out of it. The small key had a tag indicating it was for box number 4331.

"So my grandparents had stored something in a box in that bank, and they wanted my mom to have the key? Hmmm...I wonder what they put in there..." Bo murmured. Was it something valuable like gold of silver bullions? Or maybe something more personal, such as her grandmother's emerald jewelries? Why didn't her grandfather give it to her mom? Did he put it in the diary book and then forget about it completely?

"We can get to the bank in 5 hours if we leave now," Tamsin suggested.

"Or, we can both get a little rest," Bo said as she watched Tamsin rubbing her temples. "Whatever they stored there has been there for decades. A few hours of sleep won't make it disappear."

"Are you really wanting a few hour of sleep, or something else, hmmm?" Tamsin teased as she leaned in. She grinned while slowly moving her thumb along Bo's bottom lip.

"Well..." Bo licked her lips as she moved her eyes away from Tamsin's teasing smile. She had become more comfortable of expressing her desires, especially her lust for blood, in front of Tamsin, but still felt embarrassed sometimes.

"I actually do need a few hours of sleep before we hit the road, so we really need to make this quick..." Tamsin breathed into Bo's ear. When she felt the slight shiver from the brunette, she chuckled and added, "...and dirty."

* * *

They arrived at the bank right before dawn. After talking to a few tellers inside the branch, Bo filled out some paperwork. Then, they went into the vault and obtained the content inside the deposit box - a big, sealed envelope.

They returned to the car and drove home. When they got home, Bo downed a bottle of Vermilion Zero first. She sat down and opened the envelope. She was surprised to find the following items inside: a letter addressed to her mom, a small charm bracelet, and several pages of tattered, old paper.

"This shit is not cheap," Tamsin commented after having examined the bracelet closely. "It's real gold, 24k gold." She checked the silver, praying angel charm, which had the finest details one could ever imagine. "This is handmade, and this-" she pointed at the five petal flower charm, "-is made with real gemstones."

"This is real gold as well?" Bo pointed at the third (also the last) charm, which was a small, gold tag engraved with a letter "B".

"I believe so," Tamsin nodded. "Do you know whose this is?"

"I have no idea," Bo shook her head. "I have never seen it before."

"What does the letter say?" Tamsin raised her chin a little at the folded pages.

Bo opened it and started to read. A few lines later, she gasped with her eyes open wide.

"Wow...this is...I can't believe this..." she murmured.

"Read out loud, will you?"

"Dear Linda - well, Linda is my mom's name," Bo explained before she continued, "-I decide to write you this letter because you deserve to know the truth. I don't know what is the best way to say this, so I'll just start from the very beginning. After your mother and I got married, we wanted to have kids. We tried for years, and after three miscarriages, the doctor told us that the chance of us having a child of our own was basically none. We were crushed. We were angry and frustrated. We prayed as we tried, tried and tried, but we had no luck. We eventually realized that the only chance we were going to have a baby was through adoption. We talked to different agencies and filed tons of paperwork. We waited and waited, and twice we were chosen by two different pregnant women who wanted to give their babies away but both times the mother backed out in the last minute. Your mother and I lived in despair for years. She blamed herself for not being able to have children of our own. And then, one misty, moonless night, someone knocked on our door. I got up and got out. There, I found you at the doorstep, swaddled in a white cotton blanket. You had a charm bracelet on your left wrist. A note was tucked into the swaddle. The note said: 'I've been watching your family for a long time. I know your wife want a child more than anything. You can keep my baby if you swear that you'll never speak this to anyone else ever, including the baby. I'd pack up everything and move right now if I were you. Bad things will happen to you and the baby if you don't.' Shocked, I looked around. I didn't see anyone around our house. I went back inside with the baby and woke up your mother. I showed her the note and said we should go to the police. Your mother insisted that we should follow what the note said, that we should keep the baby and move. I knew it was wrong, but when I saw the look on her face when she held the baby, I remembered that on our wedding day, I vowed that I'd do everything to make her happy. We packed a few things and left town that day. We moved around the country for a few years, before we settled down at Norfolk. For years we kept our mouths shut, but every time I closed my eyes at night I'd wonder if we did the right thing. I am so sorry that we haven't told you sooner. We love you so much and we hope you can forgive us...wow I can't believe this. My mom was adopted? She was left at their doorstep just like that?"

"I can't believe your grandparents took the advice from a note. They didn't even know who wrote it. I mean, they didn't even know if the person who wrote the note was really the birth mother. The baby could have been stolen or something..." Tamsin said.

"I guess they really wanted a kid back then," Bo murmured.

Tamsin shrugged as she picked the stack of tattered paper. The first page was that note mentioned in the letter. It was hand written with beautiful recursive letters. The second page was, to her surprise, a birth certificate. Neither the mother's name nor the father's name was listed there. The child's name was listed as Linda with no middle nor last name. Other information listed included date of birth as July 22 1973 and place of birth as Somerset, 6th Continental Division.

"Huh," Tamsin murmured. "Do you know that your mother was actually born in Somerset?"

"What? She was? I have no idea! I thought she was born and raised in Norfolk! I mean, now I know she's not, but-" Bo said. "Was she really born in Somerset?"

"Says so in this birth certificate," Tamsin said as she showed it to Bo. "Somerset, 6th Continental Division, the same place where-"

"-where Nephthys visited before she decided to go after the killer. The same place where she had found her sister's body. And now...my mom was born there...?"

"Maybe that's the connection right there. Somerset, where your mother was born," Tamsin said. "Nephthys must have found out about it, somehow."

"How could she have known, though? Even my mom didn't know!" Bo said. "No one has ever mentioned that to me either. The only people who would have known about it would be my dead grandparents."

"Actually, they were not the only ones who had known about this," Tamsin reminded her. "Someone wrote the note and dropped the baby off in front of their house."

"Yeah..." Bo murmured as she read the note again. "The birth mother...or maybe the birth father..."

"Or, the thief who stole a baby from someone else," Tamsin added. "Either way, in the note, that person said that bad things would happen if your grandparents wouldn't move immediately. You don't tell people that when you entrusted them with a baby, unless you know someone was after that baby."

"Who the hell would harm a baby?"

"Oh believe me, Bo, a lot of people would. We are living in a fucked up world, in case you don't know already," Tamsin said. "There are tons of reasons one might go after a baby. It could be about money, like the baby was an heir of a great fortune and getting rid of her would means loads of cash for the next heir in line. It could be about pride. Maybe the baby was born out of wedlock and keeping her would tarnish the family name. The birth parents could have different opinions on whether to keep the baby or not. Or, maybe the baby was stole, as a revenge of some kind. Maybe it was about something else...I mean, we don't know and we probably will never know, but we now know that your mother was born in Somerset. She was also in grave danger when she was given away, well, assuming the person who wrote the note was telling the truth..." she trailed off as she opened her laptop and started to type.

"What's wrong?" Bo frowned.

"Oh just want to verify something..." Tamsin replied absentmindedly.

Bo nodded while sipping her drink quietly. She read the letter again, before she started to wonder what exactly had happened to her mom and her birth parents. It must have been a hard decision to give her away, if had been her birth parents who left her there. Who could want to harm a little baby? How did the person who left her there knew her grandparents could be trusted? Was this whole thing related to the murder or her family? Did this have anything to do with Nephthys, or the killer? Would it even be possible if everything was actually related somehow?

"Huh," Tamsin's voice came to Bo. She sounded both surprised and heavy.

"What?"

"I was just checking on your grandparents. You said that they died in a car accident, right?" Tamsin asked.

"Mhm," Bo nodded.

"Do you know that they were actually killed by metal rods that had fallen off the back of a transfer truck that their little sedan had run into?"

"Were they really? Oh my God...this sounds like something that would only happen in a nightmare," Bo said. "I have no idea. I mean...my sister and I weren't allowed into the morgue and my parents never told us the details. I thought they were just...you know...died in a car accident."

"Actually, it might not be an accident at all," Tamsin announced.

"What do you mean?" Bo frowned at Tamsin.

"I have the coroner's report her. In the report, the coroner wrote that during the autopsy, they had found a gray substance inside the wounds caused by the rods. They had collected samples of it but the analysis methods back then did not yield useful results. They concluded that it was some sort of dirt or grime residue from the metal rods."

"But...?"

"I looked at the photos they took. The gray substance was not from some metal rods," Tamsin told her firmly. "It's Vamp soot."

"What's Vamp soot?"

"When a Huntress kills a Vamp, that Vamp burns into a pile of dark dust," Tamsin explained. "We call it Vamp soot. It sticks to your blade and builds up into a layer of grime after you've killed plenty of Vamps. When you stab someone that is not a Vampire, it sticks to the flesh."

Bo opened her mouth in shock. "What are you-what do you mean?"

"A Huntress killed them," Tamsin said. "And then, she staged it like a car accident."

"Why? Why would a Huntress kill them?" Bo asked in rage. "They haven't done nothing wrong. They weren't even Vampires! Wait...they weren't Vampires, were they?"

"No, if they had been Vampires they'd have turned into a pile of soot," Tamsin said. "Since the cops found their bodies, I'd say they were 100% humans."

"Why would a Huntress kill them then? I mean, are you even sure that it was a Huntress?"

"Either it was Huntress, or it was someone who stole a Huntress' weapon. Trust me, the latter was far, far less likely," Tamsin said with a sigh. "I have no idea why a Huntress would target them, but we'll dig deeper until we know the truth."

* * *

 **A/N: Hope you all like this chapter. Lots of secrets got revealed. I'm also in the process of writing another Valkubus fic and will probably post it soon.**


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Bo pondered for a while, before she asked Tamsin, "have you heard of anything related to my grandparents' death back then? Like...a Huntress who killed a human couple?"

"Yeah, totally, whenever those bitches go kill someone they'd always come to me for permission," Tamsin drawled, and earned a cold glare.

"Is there a way for us to find out who killed them? I mean, I know that it was a long time ago, but..." Bo murmured.

Tamsin didn't answer her. She examined the car crash scene photos and the police reports again. "Well..." she said hesitantly. "The cops ruled this as a terrible accident, because the cause of death was determined as multiple fatal wounds caused by the metal rods that had fallen off from the transfer truck. When they arrived at the site, they had to pull those rods out of them..."

Bo nodded slightly as she sighed at that horrible scene.

"The coroner did not find other wounds. They did not find poison or anything like that in their bodies either."

"I know. But, you said that the gray substance they had found inside the wounds was in fact Vamp soot," Bo reminded her. "So...the Huntress used the rods as her weapon?"

Tamsin shook her head. "No, it would take a lot of dead Vampires to have the Vamp soot build up on your weapon," she explained. "Had she used rods as her weapon, she would have put blood runes on them, but none of these rods had blood rune embedded."

"Then how did the Vamp soot get into the wounds?"

"The most obvious explanation would be that they were first stabbed with a real Huntress blade," Tamsin said. "The Vamp soot was found here and here-" She showed Bo the autopsy pictures and pointed those wound to her. "One through the chest, the other through the head. Maybe she killed them first, and then covered it up by putting rods through those wounds. Of course...it would probably have raised some suspicion, had there only been those two wounds."

"Right, like how unlucky you'd have to be being killed by some fallen rods where one of them happened to go through your chest and the other happened to go through your wife's head..." Bo murmured, nodding.

"So, in order to make it more like an accident, she shoved more rods through their bodies," Tamsin said. "Anyway, the diameter of these rods is about 3/4 inch, or an inch maybe...the diameter of the weapon she used would have to be smaller than that. The weapon would also have to be quite straight."

"So something thin and straight."

"Like a stiletto."

Bo furrowed her eyebrows hard as she glanced at her opened closet in reflex (where all her shoes were organized neatly on the racks). "She killed them with high heels?"

Tamsin rolled her eyes. "No, the stiletto I was referring to was a type of dagger originated in Italy. The blade can be quite long and thin, like a needle."

"Oh," Bo nodded. "Do you know someone who'd use that as a weapon?"

Tamsin gave her a nod. "Giovanna, code name 'Scorpion'," she replied. "She was a dual wielder. A pair of stilettos were her choice of weapon."

"Was? Were?"

"She died. Actually..." Tamsin pondered for a second or two before she continued, "I think she died not too long after your grandparents' accident."

"How did she die?"

"No one knows," Tamsin said. "I mean, maybe someone in the Guild knew but I had been out of the Guild for so long that I didn't really keep up with the news updates there. All I heard was that they lost contact with her for a while, like a couple of months maybe, and then they found her body. She appeared to have died for a while, but they weren't sure how she had died. Her body was highly decomposed and they didn't bother to figure out the cause of death. They just brought her body back to the Guild and buried her."

"Great, now we can't even confront her," Bo murmured with a sigh.

"Even if we could, it wouldn't change anything. A Huntress killed your grandparents. That's something we know now."

"But, why?! My grandparents were good people. They weren't even Vampires. None of my family was. I mean, I am now, but back then...I don't think any of my family has anything to do with Vampires."

"I know, but Huntresses don't just go for Vampires. It could be an order from the Guild, or-"

"Shouldn't the Guild be already gone back then?" Bo asked.

"Yes, the Guild was gone, but it wasn't dead. The Queen was gone-"

"The Queen?"

"The leader of the Guild. Unlike other code names, Queen is a code name passed down from the old leader to the new," Tamsin explained. "That raid, you know, where everyone at the Guild thought I betrayed them and got the team killed...the Queen was leading the raid that time and she didn't make it."

"If she was no longer alive, and if the Guild was dismantled, how could it still be functional?"

Tamsin sighed. "Back in the days, the Guild ran under the guidance of three branches, the Queen, the high council, and the elders," she answered. "The Queen is usually selected by her predecessor. The high council is elected, and the elders are just...a bunch of old bitches who live forever. After the Queen died, the high council and the elders took control over the Guild. Many Huntresses carried out orders that they sent out. A lot of them are still taking orders from them now."

"Really?"

"It's just that it has become a division under the Vampire related crime department," Tamsin said. "You've met one of their minions, Alexa, remember?"

"Wait...the Guild is now under some government branch?" Bo frowned hard.

"It's no longer called the Guild," Tamsin replied. "The elders and the members of the high council have all joined the government branch. Fat paycheck and nice retirement benefits, I guess. Huntresses who were loyal to them followed them, becoming agents. Nutjobs like Mel formed their own cray cray society. People like me, who is too good for any of that crap, stays away from either side while trying to make a living. Anyway..."

"You think that either the high council or the elders sent someone to kill my grandparents?"

Tamsin shook her head slowly. "I don't know," she said honestly. "It's possible, but it's also possible that Giovanna was acting on her own. Either way, your grandparents happened got into her way."

"Maybe it had something to do with my mom..." Bo murmured. "I mean, someone basically gave her to my grandparents. The note said that they should move away immediately or they'd all be in danger including the baby..."

"Giovanna might just be that 'danger'," Tamsin said. "She probably had a hard time finding your grandparents and the baby because they all moved away and traveled around the country. When she found them again, your mother had already grown up and left her hometown. Giovanna probably tracked down your grandparents and pushed for information, but they didn't give her anything. As a punishment, or a way to stop them from warning your mother, she killed them."

"It shouldn't be that hard to find my mom. It wasn't like she disappeared from her hometown and never showed up again," Bo said. "She could have just checked the phone records or something. I mean, my mom would call my grandparents at least once a week."

"She might be on a tight schedule. She might not have access to those data. She might be just like many other Huntresses, old-fashioned, arrogant...And don't forget, she died not long after the accident," Tamsin said, air quoting the word "accident". "Maybe she was already on her way, but she kicked the bucket before she even met your mother."

"This is just...weird," Bo murmured. "Why would she even be after her?"

"That is a million dollar question, sweetheart," Tamsin sighed. "Maybe Giovanna was after the bastard who killed your family as well, and she found out about the connection between your mom and him. Maybe she was after your mother's birth parents. Maybe it's something else. I just...we just don't know, and we may never know."

"I wish I knew what happened to my biological grandparents..." Bo murmured. "I guess there's no way we can find them, is there?"

"We could look into the charm bracelet. It's handmade. If we can find the jeweler, we might to able to find them but...your family died over fifty years ago, and at that time your mother was 38. It will be really, really hard to find someone who made that bracelet almost a century ago."

"Yeah...I know..." Bo grunted.

"But, I think we should go to Somerset. It seems that everything and everyone involved in all this is somehow related to that place. Besides..." Tamsin trailed off a little, as she remembered the first time she had met Bo. They were standing in the darkness, outside the city. The night wind was cold, and Bo's hand was colder, but the blue flickers in her eyes were so warm and intriguing...That seemed so long ago, but at the same time, it felt like yesterday.

"Sounds like a plan. It was our original destination anyway," Bo said, nodding. "Even if we can't find anything else, the least we can do is to get that stake that killed the Vampire Queen."

"Like I said, there's no such thing," Tamsin drawled. "It's nothing but a myth. When we find the corpse of the Queen, you'll see that she was probably killed by a Huntress' sword or something like that."

"We'll see about that, Huntress," Bo taunted.

"Also, Somerset is not Vamp friendly," Tamsin warned.

"Hey, that's why I have you, right?" Bo grinned proudly as she gave Tamsin a quick peck on her cheek, and the Huntress smiled.

* * *

Tamsin drove her newly purchased RV along the interstate. The orange reflectors along side of the road seemed dull, and hypnotizing at night. In front of her, far away, above the horizon, a big, pasty moon hung there. Lands on both sides were covered in rocks, pebbles and sand. The low, rolling hills looked like nothing but vague shadows afar.

It was mid Spring, but there wasn't a single thing blooming or growing in the field, not even a crab grass or a dandelion. The only thing that was alive, was some sort of grass sticking out from under and between the rocks. It was short and brittle, with a brownish green color, like dirty, worn-out sink brushes. Tamsin wasn't even sure if they were all alive, since she knew those grass would still look the same even after having died for years.

Beside the road, small, isolated buildings - houses, barns, churches - would appear from time to time. Occupied by feral animals and Ghouls, they looked like something that would only appear in post apocalypse video games.

Bo frowned at a car that they had just passed by. It appeared to have been abandoned on the side of the road for a long time. A dark, highly dehydrated figure leaned against the half rolled down driver side window. A red ribbon - whether it had been something braided into that person's hair, or got entangled with those tousled hair after that person had died - flickered in the night wind like a bright warning sign.

Behind that car, there was a gray van. The door to the passenger side was partially open, and a dead body stuck out. He had been dead for so long that the only thing remained there was the skeleton.

"What happened here?" Bo asked.

"No idea. It's Somerset," Tamsin said. "It's been a chaos for centuries. It's hard to believe that once this is the capital of the Vamp world."

"I know. I've met some very old Vampires who had been to Somerset in its prime time before. The way they talked about it, it sounded like Vegas and Gotham had a baby."

Tamsin laughed at that description. "That's actually pretty accurate," she commented. "Back then it was a Vampire heaven. Vampires ruled the city and had all the legal and illegal funs they could ever dream of."

Slowing down a little as they approached the gate of Somerset, Tamsin scanned the outside vigilantly. Herds of Ghouls growled at her RV cautiously. As their eyes met hers, they lowered their heads and pulled back.

Beside those creatures, there was a big, welcome-to-Somerset sign. A family of four grinning Vampires was painted on there, in 1920s poster style. Under them there was a greeting saying "Welcome to Somerset, Vampires!" However, someone had painted huge, red crossed over the Vampires' faces, and modified the greeting so it now read "Not welcome to Somerset, Blood suckers!" In the corner of the road sign, there was almost a vivid graffiti illustrating a Vampire being killed.

"How did Somerset go from Vampire heaven to Vampire hell?" Bo asked. "Was it because the Vampire Queen died?"

"Actually...it was because Vampire activities were legalized in other places," Tamsin said. "This place was so popular, because it was the only place that a Vampire could live openly and comfortably, and of course, illegally. When other places started to legalize everything, Vamps started to move in. Why live in this hell hole when you can just legally enjoy warm drinks at a much nicer city, right? The sharp decline of the Vampire population here basically left the place empty."

"I thought the old Vampire families stayed and tried to revive the place."

"There wasn't much they can do. They can't just lock people up and force them not to leave," Tamsin said. "They didn't have much of an authority or whatever. They were just a bunch of Vamps who happened to have a fancy last name. The death of the Vamp Queen pretty much put the nail in the coffin."

"I mean, I get it, a lot of people moved away and Somerset lost its shine. It's not popular anymore. It's empty. But, how did it become a Vampire hell?

"That's because when other places legalized Vampire activities, they also took great effort making sure that Vampires wouldn't be hunted down like they had been before," Tamsin explained. "So, blood thirst Huntresses and other moron Vampire hunters would just come here whenever they wanted to have some fun. Legendary Vamp stronghold. Old Vamps who were too stubborn to change and integrate. We must kill them all..."

"But, Vampire huntings are illegal," Bo argued.

"It's illegal on the federal level but not on the regional level for many places," Tamsin told her. "Plus, like calling something illegal would stop any of it. Remember that time I had to drag your cute little ass out of the dungeon? That was at a fairly Vamp friendly place. Now imagine a place like Somerset, where Vamp hunting has never been explicitly banned."

She paused briefly as she squeezed Bo's hand. "Just make sure that you don't do stupid shit, and stay close to me, okay?"

Bo chuckled. She held Tamsin's hand and intertwined their fingers. Those firm fingers and that burning heat gave her flutters. "I can take care of myself," she said.

Tamsin gave her an eye roll while gently rubbing the side of Bo's hand with her thumb.

* * *

Having noticed that a group of Vampire hunters was heading into Somerset, Tamsin and Bo decided that instead of dealing with the unknowns inside the city, they'd take a detour through the wasteland outskirt. After parking the RV in a seclude area, they traveled towards the Queen's grave on foot.

The moonlight seemed still and lifeless. The reflection on the rocks was cold and pale. As Bo tread through a narrow opening between two pieces of tall, jagged rocks, a strong gust came to her.

Bo stopped there, as she picked up the the smell of fresh, warm blood in the air. She bared her fangs unintentionally, and sniffed. Her throat clenched at that sweet, sweet smell.

Tamsin noticed the smell as well. She quickly scanned the surroundings and pulled her hunting knife out.

They headed towards the direction of the smell with great caution. A mile later, they discovered a camp site. Two old RVs and a rusty van formed a loose triangle, with a fire pit in the middle. The fire was still burning,

and the large game bird that had been roasted on top it, had fallen into the flames and gotten charred heavily. Under the burning wood, there were several tin foil packets that were being cooked, and they let out a vague smell of onion, potato and a blend of poultry spice.

The campers (3 females and 5 males, including 2 teenage kids), however, had all been slaughtered. Each of them had at least one pair of bite marks on their neck, with blood still dribbling down. Two of them had bite marks on their thighs, and 1 had an open, messy wound on her lower abdomen.

Bo looked at their eyes and then she had to turn away. Those wide open eyes, there were nothing but terror and the cold reflection of the moonlight. Her thirst was back, and she felt disgusted. After taking a few deep breaths, she stepped back a little pretending she was scouting the surroundings.

Tamsin examined the bodies carefully. It appeared to her like an amateur Vampire hunter group, with members dressed in popular Vampire hunting attires: cheap outdoor gears, silver accessories, handmade weapons decorated with homemade charms and trinkets, items that were believed to work as Vampire repellents, and herbs for treating minor Vampire bites. The youngest, a girl, held a silver cross in her hand, and it was coated in her own blood. One of them did have his weapon - a machete - in his hand, but the others seemed to have been taken by total surprise.

Tamsin frowned a little when she noticed a tattoo on that man's wrist, a three feather in a hoop tattoo, something she had seen in the dungeon from where she had rescued Bo. Are they a legion or something? She wondered as she re-examined everyone else, but the man seemed to be the only person who had that.

"Did a Vampire...kill them?" Bo interrupted her.

"Not a Vampire, but a group of them," Tamsin explained after she had checked the bite marks again.

"I thought Somerset was a Vampire hell," Bo commented.

"It's a hell for all living things," Tamsin replied. "No one is really safe here."

Bo nodded, before she glanced at the dead again. "Should we at least...call someone?"

"Yeah, sure..." Tamsin said as she called the local police. Her call was directed to a number that rang over and over without being picked up by anyone. She called again, and this time, it simply didn't get patched through. Oh well, I tried. She told herself.

Taking a glance at Bo and her pale lips, Tamsin rolled her eyes and grabbed the brunette's arm. She pulled Bo, wrapping her arms around her waist. "Someone's thirsty," she teased with a big smirk, rubbing Bo's lips with the tip of her thumb.

Bo looked away and licked her lips with a little embarrassment.

Tamsin chuckled and pulled her collar to the side while giving Bo a wink. Bo swallowed hard at the pulsing vein underneath the blonde's warm skin.

"How long are you gonna stare before you do your Vampire business?" Tamsin raised her eyebrows at Bo.

Bo licked her lips again, and leaned in. She nuzzled the strong pulse gently. She kissed it, before she sank her fangs into Tamsin's warm flesh.

A soft moan was all she could get out as she drew the sweet, heated liquid out. The moon was so cold, and so was the nightwind, but Tamsin was so, so hot...

Letting out a quiet, satisfied sigh, Bo buried her head under Tamsin's chin. Her eyes were still glued to that bite mark made by her. The strong heart beat right beside her ear gave her flutters. "Ummm...Tamsin," she murmured.

"Yes, you can have more, if you ask me nicely," Tamsin teased.

"What are you gonna-I mean, what happens after we find the stake?" Bo asked. Ever since they entered Somerset, she had been asking herself that question. The deal had been that Tamsin would help her find the stake, and that she would pay the Huntress for that service. They had never talked about what would happen next, since both of them, back then, assumed that they'd part ways afterwards.

"I've already told you. The stake is just a legend," Tamsin reminded her. "But, hypothetically, if we find it, I'll pull it out and hand it to you, and then you'll pay me a lot of cash. Then..."

"Then what?" Bo asked as she raised to look at those teasing blue eyes.

Tamsin chuckled and ran the back of her index finger along the side of Bo's cheek. "Then, you'll go back to your little, boring town, while I go take care of my next job," she said softly. She paused on purpose, just so she could enjoy that subtle disappointment in Bo's eyes. "Unless..." she drawled, "...you are gonna need more of my services."

Bo let out a giggle of relief. She stared into those light eyes of Tamsin's for a while, before she asked, "what kind of services do you provide?"

"Oh, I think you know damn well what kind of services I provide, Bo," Tamsin leaned in and whispered into Bo's ear. "Do you not remember the quality services you received yesterday?"

Bo laughed. "I'm serious," she said as she nervously wrapped her fingers around Tamsin's. Fascinated by the burning heat, she murmured, "after-I mean, after we get the stake, whether it's real or not, what are we gonna-"

She stopped abruptly when she noticed that Tamsin's fingers suddenly gotten cold and sweaty. The Huntress was shivering as well, and her heart raced like it was about to explode.

"Whoa...what's going on? Are you okay?" Bo asked, concerned.

"I'm fine," Tamsin said as she pulled her hunting knife out. "This is just the Huntress inside me waking up."

"Huh?" Bo frowned hard. Then, she recalled that Tamsin had told her that when surrounded by Vampires, her Huntress instinct would kick in and cause a mild panic attack-like period. She immediately looked around, but didn't see anything except the Ghouls lurking in the dark - they came for the dead campers, but dared not to get any closer to a Huntress and a Vampire.

Tamsin shivered hard as she loaded her gun. "We've got companies," she said. "A lot of them."

* * *

 **A/N: Hope everyone likes this chapter. A lot of secrets will get out in next few chapters, and I expect this fic to end with another 5-10 chapters or so.**


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Bo flinched a little when several shadows appeared in front of Tamsin and her. Their glowing eyes scared her a little. Those different hues of blues, they surrounded her and Tamsin. They glittered hungrily in the dark.

She noticed the smell of blood in the air. Even though she wasn't thirsty as of this moment, that smell still turned her on. Her hypersense had made that smell even more pleasant.

She sniffed involuntarily as she noticed the intruders' bared fangs. They were covered in blood. Even their lips were coated in fresh blood.

Those pale faces. The hatred and hunger in their eyes...They must be the Vampires who attacked the campers, Bo thought.

She noticed that they were all staring at the same direction. They were all staring at Tamsin, at the fresh bite mark on her neck. Bo had just fed off her a few minutes ago, and there was still a couple of blood drops seeping out slowly.

Bo could barely focus, for her hypersense was too strong. She gasped and stumbled back when a Vampire launched at her. Tamsin pulled her back and tossed something at the attacker. The attacker froze, with his eyes wide open and his arms twitching.

He stared at Tamsin numbly, only for a split second, before he lowered his head and looked at the hunting knife lodged in his chest. His lips quivered as he took in the blood rune which shone furiously under the moonlight. He opened his mouth and let out a few gagging sound as his wound started to turn dark gray. That dull color was contagious, and in less than a second, it covered his entire body.

He collapsed right in front of Bo, and the moment his body touched the ground, the impact turned him into a pile of gray dust. Among the dust, there was Tamsin's hunting knife and the reflections of those glowing eyes on its blade.

Bang. Bang. Bang. That sound exploded and Bo stumbled back further. She saw Tamsin firing her gun while those Vampires jumped at her. One by one, they got paralyzed by the bullet, and then they were greeted by a stab from Tamsin's backup dagger.

Bo gaped at the Huntress, and that blood rune on her dagger. It danced in the darkness, like a flaming firefly, or a blazing star.

To Bo, everything happened so fast, but at the same time, everything happened so slow. Amazed, dazed and completely enthralled by the blood she had just had, she just stood there and watched Tamsin killing those Vampires.

She gasped when she saw a female Vampire pounced at Tamsin from behind. She slashed her weapon - a cleaver or something similar - at Tamsin, and the Huntress was too caught up in her fight to turn around.

In reflex, Bo grabbed the hunting knife on the ground and darted at the attacker.

The female Vampire hissed at her and turned around. Before she could hit Bo with her blade, the hunting knife went right into her abdomen. Almost at the exact same time, Tamsin stabbed her from behind with her dagger. The Vampire muttered something incoherently, before she fell and turned into a pile of gray dust.

Bo looked around vigilantly - still holding the hunting knife tightly.

"Whoa, Bo!" Tamsin exclaimed after having made sure that the attackers were all down. She pulled the hunting knife out of Bo's hand and sheathed it. Then, she held Bo's hands in hers and carefully examined them. She was expecting severe burns, since she had just charged her weapon, but she didn't see any burn on Bo's hands, not even the slightest. "Are you okay?" She asked as she gently ran the tip of her thumb across Bo's palm. "Are you hurt?"

Bo shook her head as she stared at her own hands. "No..." she replied. "It doesn't hurt at all...I mean, it did feel warm, but..." but it didn't hurt like the first time she had touched Tamsin's weapon.

"Hmmm...weird," Tamsin murmured."It should hurt like a mother fucker, and with you holding it like that, it should have burnt your skin gray."

"You think so?" Bo frowned a little as she stared at the hunting knife. Cautiously, she tapped the back of her fingers on it. It felt warmer than a piece of metal object would usually felt, but it was not at all unbearable. She pulled it out and held it in her right hand. It didn't hurt at all.

"Now this is strange," Tamsin commented as she handed Bo her backup dagger. "Try this one."

Bo tried the dagger. It seemed warmer than the hunting knife, but it didn't hurt either.

"I've never seen a Vamp who can do this," Tamsin said. "At least it should have burnt your skin off."

"Maybe your power sucks?" Bo teased.

Tamsin rolled her eyes.

"Or...maybe it's cuz I've just had your blood," Bo said. "I mean, fresh blood heals me. Maybe Huntress blood is strong enough to...you know, like instant heal?"

Tamsin pondered, and then she shook her head slowly. "No...remember that time you killed those Huntresses in that old factory plant? You took blood from them, a lot more than you did a minute ago. You still got burns from holding their weapons, I think. Bramble's garrotte left a mark on your neck, and it didn't go away until like three weeks later...maybe I should charge my weapon again or something."

"Oh so now you agree with me that your power sucks?" Bo grinned.

Tamsin snorted, and went to check the dead Vampires (who had turned into piles of gray dust). She didn't find anything useful, since most of their belongings were burnt by her power as well. Beside one of the piles, she found a pendant that was made of bronze, one of the few materials that Huntress power couldn't destroy. She frowned at the three feather in a hoop pattern while wondering if the Vampire had taken this from the campers as a trophy. She put it in a small plastic evidence bag and tucked it in her backpack.

"Asshats..." She murmured as she gave all of them a finger.

Slowly, the gray dust scattered into the night wind, turning into puffs of dark smoke. Then, the barren land was clean and empty again, as if nothing had ever happened.

Sugarmuffin (who had disappeared since they left the RV) howled afar, and the night wind whimpered.

* * *

Bo paused in the middle of the empty wasteland as she gazed at a cluster of small, white things flickering afar. She inhaled the cold, dry air, and noticed a heavy, bitter scent.

"What are those?" She asked cautiously.

"I have no idea," Tamsin replied after having stared at those things for a while. She checked the map, and confirmed her guess - whatever those things were, they were near the cave Bo and her were heading to.

They trekked for another forty minutes, and finally arrived at the cave marked on the map. Those small, white things turned out to be flowers from a bush growing right at the cave entrance. Over a hundred of pasty, five-petal blossoms bloomed along the twisted branches and thorny twigs. They seemed to sparkle under the silver moonlight.

A closer look at the bush, Tamsin and Bo discovered that there was a sitting skeleton trapped inside the long, prickly branches. The bush climbed the skeleton as if it was a trellis. The main trunk of the bush was inside the skeleton's ribcage, and it seemed to have grown from under the pelvis bones.

The strong, bitter scent reminded Tamsin those roses she had seen on Nephtys' grave. It lingered, like a painful soul.

"I think...this might be a Huntress," Tamsin announced as she cut off some branches in order to further examine the skeleton.

"Really? How do you know?" Bo frowned. Well it's not a Vampire for sure, she thought to herself. There are no fangs.

"Well, when a Huntress dies, plants often grow out of the dead body, or from where she's buried," Tamsin explained. "It's always something thorny, and with flowers, wild roses, wild blackberries...I have no idea what this one is called but it fits the profile..."

She trailed off as she picked up a small leather pouch that was beside the skeleton's pelvis. It was enclosed by a simple drawstring, and had a strap that would attach and hang on belts - although the belt it had been hanging on had already broken into several pieces. As Tamsin pulled the draw string, it broke in half and fell. Inside the pouch, she found small bundles of dried herbs (some were used as incense while others as medicine), a small set of first aid supply, a handful of gold, silver and bronze coins, two small candles made from animal grease, and some dark remains of things that had decayed already.

She reached in and removed the belt pieces. Then, she found a short, rust blowgun tucked right beside the skeleton. It was covered in new and old bramble growth, and she had to cut those entangled branches first. The blow gun had a blood rune on its side, but it seemed to have broken and she was unable to recognize the pattern. The strap that had been holding the silver blowgun darts tightly to the blowgun had broken loose, and the darts were scattered all over inside the bush.

Tamsin noticed that a cluster of thin twigs had gathered at the left side of the ribcage. They seemed to have been growing around something in the middle. As she removed those twigs, the pale white petals fell like snow.

She was surprised to see that it was a dagger lodged in the skeleton's chest. She carefully pulled the dagger out, and her eyes shot wide open when she recognized the blood rune on it. It was a lotus.

"Wait..." she murmured as she examined it. "I think this belonged to one of the twin sisters...if this was their weapon, who the hell is this dead body then?"

"Hey, Tamsin, take a look at this," Bo called as she pointed at the skeleton's left wrist. There hung a bracelet made of pure gold. It was forged into the shape of a long flower stem. Each end of it was made into a lotus, with their petals made from blue turquoise and red coral.

"This shit looks familiar," Tamsin frowned. "I've definitely seen it before."

"Actually, we both have. It was in the evidence box, from Nephtys' case," Bo explained. "When I met her in that bakery shop, I saw her wearing it, but...this can't be her, right?"

"No, I think this is her twins sister Isis," Tamsin replied.

Bo frowned. "How can this be her? The dagger in her chest clearly belonged to either her or her sister..."

"Yes, I think it was her weapon. She took her own life," Tamsin explained. "Remember the note she sent to her sister? It sounded like she knew she wasn't going to make it. I think she was either surrounded, or gravely injured, so she killed herself to end the suffer."

"Then, how could she even have the time to leave her sister that note and the map?" Bo pointed out. "I don't suppose she'd have time to do that while battling with a bunch of Vampires..."

"Maybe she knew that before she entered the battle..." Tamsin murmured hesitantly. No, it doesn't really make sense. She thought. Maybe she got injured and hid here to finish her last message?

She continued cutting the bramble with Bo's help. When she pulled a thick piece forcefully, it jerked the skeleton's left arm and caused Isis' clenched hand to open. Inside, there was a small, round locket. The locket was made of silver, with floral patterns engraved and filigreed. Small rubies decorated the centers of the flowers. The hinge bail had the initials of "E" and "B".

Tamsin rubbed her finger gently along the side of it, before she opened it carefully. Inside there were several pieces of parchment paper (or maybe some sort of fabric) and some dark residue. There might have been some writings on those paper pieces, but they were illegible.

The surface of the silver had long been oxidized. It looked dull, and old. Tamsin noticed a blood stain on the back of it, and she wondered to whom that blood belonged. She sighed as she placed it back into the skeleton's hand.

"The map says that the Queen's grade is right inside this cave, right?" Bo pointed at the cave behind Isis' body.

"Looks that way," Tamsin nodded as she checked the map. "Let's go inside and take a look, shall we?"

Bo nodded as well, as she lifted her leg over the dead body and headed inside. To her surprise, there was nothing inside the cave. The small chamber had no other exits.

Tamsin checked the map for the second time. "Weird...it should be here," she murmured as she walked out and scanned the surroundings. There were other caves nearby, and she was certain that they had followed the map exactly.

She returned to the cave and checked the ground, looking for a trapdoor or a hidden entrance, but she found nothing. Then, she started to knock on the walls. She was disappointed that it sounded beyond solid.

Suddenly, Bo turned to her. "Do you smell that?" She asked Tamsin as she sniffed.

"Smell what?" Tamsin inhaled. All she smelled was the bitter smell of the flowers and the dirt in the air.

"There's a-" Bo trailed off as she tried to pick up that scent again. It smelled like moldy air had finally escaped from a space that had been sealed for a long period of time. It was barely there, and she would have missed it if it wasn't for her hypersense.

She turned her head a little, and the smell was gone. She started to pace around inside the chamber, until she caught that scent again. She carefully followed it, and it eventually led her to the corner of the very inside.

"I don't smell anything," Tamsin grunted.

"It's coming from..." Bo murmured as she finally located it. The smell was leaking through a tiny crack on the muddy surface of the chamber wall. The tiny crack was probably created by Tamsin knocking.

Bo brushed her hand against it, and dry dirt around it started to fall off. Then, she realized that behind the layer of dry dirt, it wasn't solid rocky surface. Instead, it was a thick wall formed with rocks and pebbles. They were carefully arranged and held together by clay. Small cracks and holes in the clay, possibly drilled by some insects, allowed a whiff of air to leak.

"Huh," Tamsin frowned as she helped Bo removed more mud. Then, she pried a rock off with her hunting knife.

Now, she smelled it. It reminded her the trail she had experienced right before she was deemed qualified for joining the Guild. She, along with a dozen of young girls who had just had their Huntress power awakened, had been placed inside a dungeon full of Vampires. That dungeon was actually an old mausoleum. The smell was similar: a blend of moist, mud, old corpse, mold, moss, insects and rodents.

They took off more rocks, and discovered that there was abundant space behind the small chamber. Whoever built the wall used it to cut off the access between the small chamber and the large space behind.

Tamsin entered first, with her gun in her hand and Bo behind her. They walked for a few minutes, before they arrived at a large chamber. In the middle of the chamber, there lay a charred figure. She looked as if she was a statue carved out of dark soapstone. She had her eyes closed and her arms folded on her chest, with her long hair locks draped down on the ground.

On her chest, there was a half-foot long, wooden stake.

"Ummm...is that the stake you are looking for?" Tamsin asked Bo hesitantly.

"Huh, weird, someone had just told me that she didn't think the stake would exist," Bo drawled loudly.

Tamsin rolled her eyes and went to examine the dead body. She did not find anything that would indicate the identity of the dead Vampire, but she thought, if this isn't the Vampire Queen, who else could it possibly be?

She grabbed the stake, and gave Bo a nod. Then, she pulled it out effortlessly. The charred figure started to collapse, first around where the stake was at, and then everything else around it turned into a pile of ash.

Tamsin raised the stake and took a closer look. She snorted as she realized that it wasn't a stake. It was actually a dagger which had a short blade and a long handle. With the blade fully lodged inside the dead Vampire's chest, though, it did look like a wooden stake.

"I guess this is it...?" Tamsin murmured as she flipped the dagger to check its blood rune. Like she expected, it was a lotus pattern.

"May I?" Bo requested and carefully took the dagger. "Does this thing really kill any and all monsters?" She asked as she stared at the blade that was covered with a thick layer of rust.

"I really doubt it," Tamsin said honestly. "I think it's just one of Isis' daggers, and she used it to kill the Queen. I mean, we can always test it once we find that bastard who killed your family. If this doesn't kill him-" she pulled her hunting knife out, "-this definitely will."

She looked around briefly, before she added, "now I guess we need to figure out if there's any clue regarding his identity or what he's after. I don't see anything worth investigating here, though."

"Maybe we should go into town and ask around?" Bo proposed.

"Maybe, but I don't know where exactly to-" Tamsin suddenly stopped.

"What?"

"The journal," Tamsin said. "Isis' journal. We didn't see it out there, did we?"

"I don't remember seeing any. Or maybe it just decayed. It's been 600 hundred years, Tamsin."

"No, a Huntress' journal does not decay. Even fire wouldn't destroy it. If it wasn't with her, someone must have taken it," Tamsin said.

"Maybe Nephtys did," Bo reminded her. "She came here after she had gotten the message. She found her sister's body, and maybe she took her journal?"

"It's possible but...we did not find Isis' journal in that evidence box. If she did take it, she's probably keep it with her the whole time, I think."

"Or, maybe whoever killed her took it," Bo said. "I mean, we don't know for sure if it was the same guy who killed my family, but...who else could it be, right? Maybe he took the journal because...because whatever was written in there would reveal his secrets."

"I guess it's possible. Maybe Isis wrote about him in her journal...wait, maybe he was related to Isis' death or something, and she wrote it down before she died. When Nephtys found out about it, she turned around and went after him...but, it still doesn't explain what connection he might have with your mom...maybe it's all in the journal or something, I mean, Nephtys did mention your mom to you..."

She trailed off and pondered for a long time, before she said, "looks like the sun's coming up soon. I think we should camp here for today. We'll figure something out later."

* * *

Bo found herself too excited, and a bit too anxious, to fall asleep. She rolled over in her sleeping bag and turned to watch the Huntress sleeping.

"You need to stop staring at me, Bo," Tamsin drawled. "I'm actually trying to get some rest here."

"Then why are you still awake?" Bo chuckled.

"That's because you are staring, chuckles," Tamsin snorted.

"I'm sorry. I just...I didn't think we'd get the stake, I mean, the dagger, this easily," Bo explained.

"You almost got yourself killed in that stupid dungeon, and I almost died because of that bitch Mel. I lost all my things and my RV. You call that easily?"

"I thought we'd need to through a whole lot of dungeons and traps before this."

"Maybe if it was actually the legendary weapon that could kill all monsters. Honestly, though...I think it might just be a normal Huntress weapon."

"I know..." Bo nodded. She went quiet for a long time, before she leaned and said, "so, about the conversation earlier..."

Tamsin smiled. She inched over and rubbed the tip of her thumb on Bo's nose playfully. "Can't stand the thought of not having me in your life, huh?"

Bo huffed out an embarrassed chuckle and turned away. Tamsin laughed and gave her a kiss.

"I...don't know if I'm in the position to promise you anything, Bo," Tamsin whispered sincerely as she gazed into Bo's brown eyes. She caressed Bo's lips softly, until Bo opened them and took her thumb in. Bo bit it affectionately, and licked off a few drops of blood.

"My current job-" Tamsin continued. "I travel a lot to make a living. I don't know if I'll be able to work another job as well as this one. I also have a big, fat bounty on my ass...I'm not saying that I don't want to be with you, but I just don't know how much time and how often."

"I know," Bo said with a smile. "I wasn't asking you to move to my city and settle down or anything."

"Then what were you asking?" Tamsin asked as she ran her finger along Bo's eyebrows.

"I was just wondering, maybe you could have a partner," Bo said with a grin. "It's never a bad idea for a private investigator like you to have a partner, you know."

Tamsin chuckled. The warm flutters inside her chest were about to burst. "So instead of asking me to move in with you, you want to move in with me. Hmmm...I don't know. I think it's more like a second date discussion, and sweetheart, we are totally not there yet."

"Of course we are not," Bo snorted. "We didn't even have our first date yet. You gotta have the first before you can have the second, Huntress."

"Well..." Tamsin pulled Bo close and give her a kiss on her forehead. "Do you want to go for a date when this shit is over? We could probably find some all night Vampire fun places."

"Oh by that you mean like we eat a bowl of chips in bed while watching a show and then have sex for like the rest of the day?"

"We could do that too," Tamsin laughed. She invited Bo into her sleeping bag, and held her to her chest.

Bo purred and closed her eyes. Soon, she fell asleep in Tamsin's arms.

Vague conscious, she felt a chill, a gust, a puff of cold air. The memory of being attacked by a group of Vampires earlier, and the memory of having her entire family slaughtered by a Vampire, made her jolt with her eyes wide open.

Tamsin was awake as well. She shielded Bo as she grabbed her hunting knife.

Someone was in the cave with them. It wasn't a Vampire, nor was it a human. The figure that was standing in the corner of the chamber seemed somewhat transparent, with a strange sheen. It looked like an apparition.

Bo narrowed her eyes at the figure: female, short, dark straight hair, sharp eyes...she had seen this person before, only this figure looked a lot younger than the one she had seen...

As her eyes slid to the lotus bracelet on the apparition's wrist, she blurted, "Nephtys?"

The figure shook her head slightly. "Isis," she corrected her. "Nephtys' is my twin sister."


End file.
